Fallen Star
by wouldtheywriteasongforyou
Summary: The roles are reversed: Edward is the human, Bella is the vampire. A silly pre-teen attempt at writing a story.
1. Chapter One

**Author's Note: Hiya! This is my first FanFic. Reviews and comments welcomed. Lots of love to you for deciding to read this~**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Twilight characters. They all belong to the lovely Ms. Meyers. I do, however, own all the new characters I have created with my fabulously brilliant mind.**

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><p>Chapter 1:<p>

_There is more than one type of beautiful in the world. There is the perfect, innocent beauty. It is captivating, breath-taking, and flawless. Golden, pure, and angelically graceful. But then there is the dark beauty, pulse-racing and alluring. Dangerous, seductive, and inviting. Elusive and shadowed._

_Both are considered beautiful. One more beautiful than the other, but beautiful nonetheless. Both are stunning. Both can make your heart stop. The innocent, pure beauties in life can make you feel like you are floating in a daydream. Only the dark type of beautiful makes you feel like you are caught in a nightmare._

_She is definitely the dark and dangerous type, the nightmare never leaving one's mind. After all, she's a vampire._

.

.

I stood uncertainly in front of a country ranch-style house and the rolling acres of land surrounding it. The house itself looked three times bigger than the single-story log cabin I called home when I lived in Alaska.

"So?" my mother, Charlotte, asked, grinning nervously. "Do you like it, Edward?"

I wrinkled my brow, confused. "Um, do we _really_ need all this room, Charlee?" As far as I knew, it was only my mother and me who would inhabit this house. But I knew not to be surprised; Dad had run off with that graduate-student, and he was supposedly the 'sensible' one out of my parents.

"Mom," she corrected me in an absent-minded voice as she looked back at the house. Her eyes had a calculating look as if she were reassessing the place. There was no mention of a Mr. Future-Husband. Thank God.

The correction of her name had me making a not-so-nice face at her. The blunt attempt she had made to try to re-associate herself with the label of 'Mom' was not anything new. She had a long history of not fulfilling the Mom role but then wanting to reclaim it years later.

She turned away, ignoring the face I made, and did not bother to answer my question concerning the new house. Typical. My mother's reputation of being impulsive was well-known, and her habit of carelessly throwing her money around never hesitated to flaunt itself. The brand-new glossy black Ford F-150 parked neatly in the circular gravel driveway, a 'welcome-home' gift from Charlee, was proof of that.

A smile darkly twisted with irony fell upon my face. It just so happened that my truck in Alaska had been the same model, albeit used, rusty, and a dull red when Dad had presented it to me. Apparently Charlee and Dad thought alike, much as they hated to admit it.

My breath hitched when I thought of my father. Ever since I had left Alaska, I had been wondering if leaving my father was the best choice. _He has Philly. He'll be fine,_ I thought, my nose wrinkling in disgust.

I had only recently learned about Dad's relationship with the twenty-something graduate student. I pretended that the introduction of Philly in my dad's life was fine, but honestly, who was I kidding? In a rash fit of teenage-induced hormones, I'd fled from my home in Alaska to the rural, middle-of-nowhere place in Texas where Charlee lived to finish my last two years of high school.

Another minute of hearing Dad, the sensible, pragmatic lawyer, call Philly 'baby doll' or even the dreaded 'Phee-Phee' like a lovesick puppy, and I would have lost it. Not that I already hadn't.

"I'll be out shopping for awhile," Charlee said. I blinked, not realising that her Chevrolet was stalling impatiently in the driveway. "Feel free to unpack. Or not."

I stared at her. I hadn't expected her to ditch me this fast. "I need a key, Mom."

She laughed, but there was an edge to it. "What for? The front door is unlocked." She revved the engine quickly, expressing her annoyance at me holding her up.

"I need it to lock up the house once I'm inside."

"Honestly, Edward, there's no need. We are practically in the middle of nowhere. There are no mass murderers in Dish, Texas. Stop acting like your father, always whining about safety and the logical side of the world. You're seventeen—start acting like the typical men who don't give a crap about anything."

"Maybe if you started acting like a mother I wouldn't have to act like my father."

Charlee glared at me. "Then as your _mother_," she said, spitting the word out, "I want you to get your crap out of my car and move it into the house. Use one of the spare bedrooms for your stuff. Do whatever you want, Edward, but stop all the complaints and sarcasm. I didn't raise a smart aleck and certainly don't want one now."

"We'll need a key eventually, Mom," was my response as I gathered my small duffel bag and backpack out of the trunk of her car. It was hard not to let loose one of the 'smart aleck' remarks that had been waiting ever-so patiently on the tip of my tongue.

She deserved every spiteful word I ever said to her in my life.

Charlee rolled her eyes. As soon as I stepped away from her car, she was zooming down the dusty dirt road and out of sight, the sun glinting and reflecting off her car.

If I wasn't old enough to know better, I would have thought she was abandoning me.

When it came to my parents, I could have sworn that I was adopted. I didn't look or have the characteristics of either of them. There was no way that I was anything like Charlee. She was too emotional and hypocritical to be anything like me. I only called her Mom because she made a big deal about the usage of the label. Otherwise I didn't care much for her. She practically abandoned me with Dad when I was an infant. But then my father...he's quiet, withdrawn, and practical. Or so I thought. I lived with him for most of my life and I thought I knew all I needed to know about the man, but then he goes and runs off with some graduate-student half his age.

I shiver at the thought that my father is a cradle-robber. Ew.

I shifted all my stuff in my hands and walked up to the front door. _Welcome home_, the front door mat read. I rolled my eyes at it, dark, cynical thoughts storming around in my mind.

The house was unlocked and pretty much empty. Not exactly comforting. My mother had lived here for a couple of years while Dad and I were Alaska, so I thought that the home would be at least a little decorated and feel like somebody lived in it. I walked slowly through the house and counted a total of three TV sets, one couch, five chairs, two tables, one iPod docking station in the master bedroom, and two beds. Considering that the whole house was about four thousand square feet, the whole place looked under-decorated and nothing like a home.

I dumped my crap in the smallest spare bedroom. The pristine white walls that lined the room probably meant to give the space a 'new' feel, but it just made me claustrophobic. I kicked the wall in the far right corner, leaving a dark black scuff mark. I didn't know if Charlee would be pissed, but I knew that I felt better now that the whole place had lost its 'perfect' look.

There was nothing I hated more than perfection.

Unfortunately, one black skid mark did nothing to change the claustrophobic feel of the bedroom and the house. Since I knew Charlee didn't care about whatever I did while she was out shopping, I left the house and jumped into my Ford. A spin in this little country town was what I needed to clear my mind.

I drove around the town of Dish aimlessly. There wasn't much to look at — this little unknown place in Texas made Alaska look crowded and heavily populated.

If Charlee wanted to shop, she probably had to drive up ten miles north-east to Denton. It made me feel better to think that she was somewhere in another city, even if it was only seven minutes away from the house.

I continued to drive around idly and waste gas. Dust clouds billowed behind the truck, and I heard the dull thunk of the gravel on the road getting churned up by the Ford's wheels. The hot, relentless September sun blistered the Ford's interior. I cranked up the AC full-blast since I was still not used to the fact that one hundred degree weather down here was normal.

Faintly, I heard my cell ringtone coming from somewhere down on the floor. I pulled over and stopped the car before looking at the caller ID. _Charlee_, it read. I pressed the red 'Ignore' button. Immature, I know, but it wouldn't hurt her to be ignored at least once in her life.

I flung my phone onto the passenger seat only to have it start ringing again. I made a face without looking at the caller ID. It was Charlee again, most likely. Unfortunately, my traitorous eyes strayed down to look at the screen. I breathed a sigh of relief as soon as I read the word _Sam_.

"Hey man, how's it going?" I answered the phone.

Sam laughed. "That was exactly what I was going to ask you."

"Yeah? Well, besides the fact that I'm burning my ass off down here, I'm good."

"How's the witch?"

"Charlee?" I rolled my eyes. "We're living a mutual relationship of ignoring the other. It should work out."

Sam snorted. "What should work out, you getting along with her or you being able to ignore her?"

"The latter. Definitely the latter." There was a slight pause while I collected my thoughts. "Entering any new mush races?"

He let out a little bark of laughter. "Yeah, me and the mutts are kicking some tail out on the course. With you not competing, the dogs and I should have a fair chance at winning some big-name tournaments."

I laughed. "You make me want to come back up to Alaska just to beat the crap out of you again, Sam."

"Oh, don't go flattering yourself," was his reply.

"What about Paul? And Embry? And is Quil's foot okay?" I asked, effectively steering the conversation into a new topic.

Sam's laid-back voice floated through the phone and into my ear. "Chill, man. Your huskies are fine. You've only been gone for a day — there's no way anything life-threatening has happened to them yet."

"Yet," I pointed out.

"Whatever," Sam said, obviously bored with the new topic. "Seen any chicks?"

I peered out of the Ford's tinted windows and stared at the flat brown expanse of wheat and hay. "Yeah. There's this really tall one a few feet by…she's giving me the once-over, man."

"Like as we speak?"

I laughed. "Yeah, as we speak."

"Damn that's hot, Edward," he answered. "What else?"

"She's stick-thin," I answered slowly.

"And?"

"Straw-colored hair…."

Sam was silent. "You're lying, bro."

I laughed again. "Why do you think that?"

"Because you said you lived in the middle of nowhere."

"Touché." I stared at the scarecrow girl I'd been describing to Sam. "It was a scarecrow."

"A scarecrow?" Sam yelped. "That's the best that Texas can offer? Dude, I thought you were living in the cheerleader capital or something."

I rolled my eyes. "I live near _Denton_, not _Dallas_."

"Oh." There was a silence. "Well, I gotta go. Emily and I are going to the movies. Talk to you later, bro."

"Yeah, later," I said before the line went dead. I slumped down in my truck. For the second time that day, I wondered if leaving Alaska was worth it. I had a whole life up there and I was happy. I had friends and I threw it all away to restart a life that I wasn't sure was worth restarting.

The talk with Sam, my best friend, made me realize how much I'd lost in the move.

I started the truck up again and decided to drive to the high school I'd be attending tomorrow. It wouldn't hurt to get the registration out of the way.

Driving along the narrow, one-lane road was pretty depressing. There wasn't a single soul in sight. There weren't even any grazing animals out. The only things in sight were corn and empty acres of flat, stubby sun-browned grass.

I missed the snow. I missed my huskies and the wolves howling at night. My vision unexpectedly blurred as I thought of the snowball fights and the winter wonderland my childhood had been. I would give anything to have that back again.

Wiping my eyes with the back of my hand, I silently rebuked myself. Men did not cry. Especially not because they were homesick.

But damn, it was so hard not to feel nostalgic in this alienated place.

The whole reason of the move was still unclear to me. Given, I wasn't exactly _happy_ living with Dad (and his girlfriend who was only eight years older than me give or take a few), but I would prefer his company over Charlee's. Definitely Dad over Charlee.

I rolled into the town limits, not even realizing that I was in the town yet. Nothing about the scenery had changed except for the fact that there was a metal post with a paint-chipped sign reading _DISH TOWN LIMITS._ This place was so small that it was starting to scare the crap out of me.

There was nothing interesting about the little town. Government buildings such as the public library and the city headquarters lined either side of the street. A lonely, weather-beaten Shell station was on the far end of the road before the road disappeared down a hill.

I drove up and down the road, looking for the high school. Surprisingly, I couldn't find it. I thought that in a town this small, a high school would be easy to spot. Guess I was wrong.

"Sir?" an extremely pretty girl around my age flagged me down on the side of the road. She was sitting outside at a local diner.

I pulled over into the shade of the tree where she was sitting and rolled down my window. "Yeah?"

"Are you lost?" Wow, her twangy Texan accent was cute.

"Um, I don't know. I guess?" I answered like the idiot I am.

The girl laughed melodically. "May I ask you what you're lookin' for?"

"The…the um..." I had a bad reputation of being rendered speechless in the presence of pretty girls. I frantically wracked my brain for what I had been trying to do. Library…school... "Do you know where Ponder High School is?"

The girl laughed again. "It's over in Ponder."

"Oh." I nodded stupidly. I hadn't realized that Dish was so small that it didn't even have its own school. "How far is that?"

She scrunched up her nose in an adorable way. "Some four minutes north as the crow flies." She looked me over. "New student?"

"Yeah," I answered. "I'm Edward, a junior." I stuck out my right hand.

She shook my hand. "Nice to meet you. The name's Jessica. I'm a junior too." Jessica flashed me a flirtatious smile. "Where are you from?"

"Alaska."

Jessica's mouth gaped open. "All the way up there?" She looked me over. "How could you live with all that snow and no sun? I'd freeze to death!"

I smiled at her reaction. "It doesn't snow all the time, and the sun does come out in the summer."

"Still," Jessica said doubtfully. "And the moose and the wolves...were you afraid?"

"Nah," I said. "You get used to the wildlife. Actually, I really miss all of it right now."

"Oh," she said softly. Jessica peeked at me through her dark brown fringe of eyelashes, her big golden-brown eyes reminding me of a deer. "You wouldn't happen to be...Charlee's son?"

"The one and only," I answered.

Jessica opened her mouth as if to say something but then closed it again. When she spoke, it was obvious she had changed what she originally intended to say. "Well, if you're not with her right now I'm guessin' she's up in Denton shoppin'. Would you mind tellin' her I said hi?"

"Not at all," I said even though I minded very much. "And thanks for the help."

"You're welcome. And I'm awfully sorry for takin' up your time with a bunch of mindless chit-chattin'," Jessica said. "See you tomorrow at Ponder, Edward!" She stepped back from the truck and waved goodbye.

I waved back and swung onto the road again, driving straight to Swafford Road so I could catch the main road that would take me up to the town of Ponder.

I drove in through the town and was relieved that the high school wasn't that hard to spot. Sure, it wasn't large by definition, but it stood out from the other 'smaller' buildings around it. The land property of the school was smaller than the ranch that I lived on, and the one-story high school barely looked large enough to cover the basics.

Parking in the small parking lot was easy considering that it was practically empty. I got out of the Ford and strolled across the vacant lot. As soon as I opened the glass doors, I knew something wrong.

I wasn't in Alaska anymore. So what was this giant wolf doing inside the school?

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><p><strong>Author's Note: REVIEW!<strong>


	2. Chapter Two

**Author's Note: Hi, stranger! A big thank you goes to those who favourited, liked, and reviewed this story. You make me smile like the sun and dance like a fool (:  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Twilight characters. They all belong to the lovely Ms. Meyers. I do, however, own all the confusing and crazy bits of this story that I have created with my fabulously brilliant mind.**

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><p>Chapter 2:<p>

I eyed the wolf cautiously. The giant russet coloured wolf eyed me back with an equal amount of suspicion on its face.

"Hello," I said slowly, feeling rather stupid talking to an animal. The wolf snorted in response. It was like it understood how awkward I felt.

I moved inside the school even though my common sense told me otherwise. Something told me that this wolf wasn't normal. It was acting a little _too_ human-life for a wild animal.

"I'm new here," I said, walking gradually out of the wolf's leaping range in case it decided to attack. One can never be too safe. "I come from Alaska. Land of arctic wolves. Maybe I know your distant cousin or something." I was talking in a calm, low voice despite my racing pulse.

The wolf snorted again before giving a wolfish-looking grin. Something told me that it could sense how fast my heart was beating and that it could smell the adrenaline coursing through my veins. I stared into its eyes, trying to read his mind to make sense out of this abnormal situation. Figuratively speaking, of course. Only superheroes read minds.

The wolf then dipped its head as it acknowledged me, not at all intimidated by my intense gaze. After that, the wolf gave me a long, steady look that clearly said _What are you looking at?_ before it turned on its heel and waited for the motion-activated sliding glass doors of the school to open.

Surprisingly, the brightly coloured wolf quickly disappeared into the bland landscape surrounding the school. I stared after it in shock, hoping the whole encounter was a figment of my imagination. The last thing I needed was to be known as the crazy new kid who saw a wolf roaming about in the school.

_You're jetlagged,_ I told myself firmly. _You are still in Alaskan time. There was no way that you just saw a wolf act so humanly and disciplined. You know how wolves are in Alaska. This wolf did not act normally because it was not real. Get a grip on yourself, Masen._

I had myself convinced within a matter of minutes that the whole encounter was unreal. A wolf who could know the mechanics of an automatic door? Haha, yeah right. Not to mention that it seemed as if it could comprehend what I was saying. I quickly pushed the past few moments to the back of my mind.

Now that the shocking incident was over with, I looked around the lobby of the high school, struggling yet again to remember the reason why I had come.

I thought back to the conversation I'd had with that pretty girl named Jessica. My thoughts jumped from that conversation to the idea of all the new people I would have to meet tomorrow. Undoubtedly they all knew each other—there are only so many people in a town this small—and they probably never had to deal with the concept of being an outsider before. I doubted that I would be received with friendly, open arms.

_Registration_, I thought quite plainly. _That's what I am here to do today. And all this paperwork will only confirm that I am the outsider here._

I sighed. Well, nothing good happens from dragging out the inevitable.

Following the neatly labelled signs posted on the reddish clay brick posts of the school, I found the room that was marked _Attendance Office._ I shifted slightly on the balls of my feet, nervous and not ready to officially have my life be permanently turned upside down. Once I completed the transferring of my school paperwork, there would be no turning back to my past life in Alaska.

Four deep breaths later I had my hand softly knocking on the wooden door of the office. The low murmurs inside ceased and I heard a young female voice say: "I suppose that there is someone at the door, Ms Cope."

"Do open it then, dear," an elderly woman's somewhat-muffled voice replied. "After all, I believe this conversation is not open for discussion again."

The younger female let out a huff of frustration. Her soft footsteps came closer and closer to me as she muttered angrily about interruptions. I gulped as my heart started to race, not unlike when I had encountered the wolf mere minutes ago.

There was a pause before the door opened. Liquid golden eyes peered out at me before solidifying into a glare of disdain.

My breath hitched. Even though her face was twisted in disgust, and even though the phrase _If looks could kill_ was racing through my mind at a mile a second (because undoubtedly she was trying to incinerate me on the spot) this girl in front of me was the prettiest person I had ever seen in my seventeen years. She wasn't even comparable to that Jessica chick.

My heart rate picked up even more, and I saw her eyes flicker to the steady pulse in my throat. She let out a strangled gasp of pure venom before saying:

"You smell like wet dog, you know." And with that, she rudely pushed me out of the way before disappearing down the hall and out of the school.

I stared after her. What was her problem? I rolled my eyes at her attitude and fervently hoped that not every student here would have an attitude like hers. Otherwise, they all just might find out that provoking me might not be the best idea. In Alaska, my principal and I became good acquaintances what with all my trips down to his office when teachers accused me of supposedly instigating all the verbal and physical fights I was in.

As if.

"Hello?" the receptionist called from inside the office. "Young man, you may come in."

I shook the thoughts out of my mind. Texas was a place to start new and to leave my past in Alaska behind. As much as I was starting to regret the move, what was done was done and nothing could really change it now. I might as well just suck it up and deal.

Squaring my shoulders, I try to draw as much confidence as I can before I head into the place that will determine my fate. Oh, wow. I'm starting to sound really melodramatic. As long as I am in this theatrical mode, I might as well re-label the Attendance Office as the Executioners' Dungeon. Huh. That has a nice ring to it.

"How can I help you?" the old lady who sat behind a teak wood desk asked. She clicked her pen a few times while she waited for my answer.

"Hi, I am Edward Masen, the transfer student from Denali, Alaska. I was wondering if I could finish up the last of my paperwork before school began...?"

"Yes, yes, of course," she answered and shuffled a few random papers on her desk. "Let's see...M...M...M...ah, there you are. Edward Anthony Masen, rising junior, and transfer student from Cantwell High School, am I correct?"

I nodded my head.

"Oh, good. Well, dear, there's not much that you have left to do. All that needs to be completed is a medical insurance form and a sheet about school fees and expenses that you will need your parent or guardian to sign."

"And if my mother doesn't sign it?" I said.

Ms Cope frowned. "Those forms are not optional, Mr Masen."

I sighed. Unfortunately it seemed to be unavoidable that Charlee and I had to see each other again today. "Okay," I told Ms Cope. "My mother is up in Denton shopping for a bit. I'll see if she can spare a few moments and sign these papers." I pulled out my phone and tapped out a text to Charlee.

Her response was an immediate and firm no.

I texted her back saying that if she didn't want me hanging around the house all day, she better get her butt over to Ponder and sign these school papers. That got her attention: her next message was full of complaints and whining, but she said she would be here when she got the chance.

Even if that meant she wouldn't be at the high school for an hour or so, it at least meant she would sign. If Ms Cope wasn't in the room, I would have forged a signature just to avoid all this unnecessary drama.

"Oh, and just to be clear, Mr Masen, Ponder High School has a very strict no-phones allowed policy in place. A fine of fifteen dollars will be issued if an administrative faculty member ever sees or hears your phone regardless of if it is on or off. Only a parent or guardian can pay the fine. Also, Ponder High School does not tolerate any sort of lying, cheating, forging signatures, or mouthing off. Serious punishments are in place for any student who acts out of line. Understood?" Ms Cope said.

I stared at her. That was really creepy how she just addressed all my current thoughts.

"Mr Masen, do you understand?" Ms Cope repeated.

"Yes, ma'am," I responded promptly.

"Good," she said. "Now, why don't I regale you with some stories about my cats while we wait for your mother to come by?" And then she droned on and on about Fluffy or Mittens or Mr Kibbles.

I adopted a look of rapt attention, but in all honesty, this was the only time in my life where I was going to be extremely relieved when Charlee showed up.

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><p><strong>Author's Note: So there it is. A slightly different ending than the original manuscript. I sincerely hope you like this version of Fallen Star much much better than the one I wrote back in 2011.<strong>

**But anyways! Just review - I promise it won't hurt you.**

**lovelovelove ~wouldtheywriteasongforyou~**


	3. Chapter Three

**Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews! Ya'll are amazing.**

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><p>Chapter 3:<p>

**Monday**

Today was the first day of school. Charlee had grudgingly filled out the paperwork from yesterday before abandoning me for another two hours. Not that I minded, of course. I was starting to appreciate this minimal-contact-with-the-other routine we had set up.

Any sort of thought left my mind when the artificial lights in the school blinded my eyes as I entered Ponder High School Monday morning. I stared for a moment at the place that wolf had appeared yesterday afternoon. I didn't even know that wolves populated this little country town. I was still trying to convince myself that I was just hallucinating what had happened there.

"Hey buddy," a guy behind me drawled, his voice impatient. "Stop dawdlin' and start _movin_'."

"Oh," I said, realizing a little too late that I had come to a complete stop in the middle of the hallway while seemingly staring at nothing. A huge crowd of people were now looking at me curiously. "Um…sorry."

Suddenly a group of three girls appeared in front of me. A familiar looking brunette was acting as their leader, and she wore a fierce scowl on her face which was thankfully directed at the guy behind me.

"Mike," she snapped. "Back off. He's new here and does not deserve your shitty attitude you're givin' him."

I raised my eyebrow at her but played my part anyways. I turned around and fixed that Mike kid with my best dark-and-dangerous look. I almost burst out laughing once I realised Mike was a blonde baby-faced guy. Not exactly the macho man I had imagined him as.

Mike glared at me while speaking to the brunette. "Hold your horses, Jess. I wasn't lookin' for no trouble, so you can stop your meddlin'."

Steam practically billowed out of Jessica's ears. "You watch your tongue when you speak to me, Michael Newton! You keep talkin' like this and there is no way any girl in their right mind who would keep datin' you!"

"And here we go," the girl on Jessica's right muttered.

"Five…four…three…two…one," a petite Asian girl on Jessica's left counted off.

Jessica ignored the two girls and carried on with her tirade. "I am so _sick _of you thinkin' you can go 'round tellin' me what to do!"

"Two minutes, Jess, before first period," the Asian girl warned.

Jessica waved her hand in a _yeah, yeah_ motion. She focused back on Mike. "It's over between us, Newton. Get lost." Her voice had become hard and it was obvious she didn't expect her orders to be disobeyed. Then she glared at the crowd. "Hey ya'll, this ain't a reality TV show so don't be watchin' what's not your business!"

The clusters of people around us rolled their eyes at Jessica and muttered a few choice words about her, but they all left nonetheless. Mike also left, his face bright red and glaring daggers at me.

"Hey newbie," he growled as he passed by. "I don't know who the hell you are, but you cost me my girlfriend and you are gonna owe me big time."

I stared at him impassively. "You lost Jessica all on your own, big guy," I said in a flat voice.

He sneered back at me before disappearing into the thinning crowds. The light bounced off his carefully gelled blonde hair making him look more like an over-sized toddler and not the intimidating junior he tried to be.

Jessica rolled her eyes at him and said, "Don't mind him, Edward. He's all talk and waddles pathetically when he tries to walk."

The Asian girl next to Jessica tugged on her sleeve. "We gotta get to Chem, Jess. Mr Dye has a horrible reputation towards tardy students."

The other girl with mahogany hair smirked at the Asian one. "Scared of being tardy on the first day, Angela?"

Jessica ignored her friends and said to me: "What's your first class, Edward? Maybe I know where it is so I can save you from being tardy."

So maybe she wasn't ignoring her friends. Not wanting to be part of a cat fight, I quickly glanced down at my schedule and said with a smile, "Chemistry AP, Mr Dye's class."

"Cool," Angela said. "Walk with us there."

Jessica laughed. "Let's roll out, guys. We all know that we're gonna be runnin' to first period — there's no point in delaying the inevitable."

As we walked down the practically deserted main hallway, Angela glanced at her watch. "Ya'll have made me tardy," she pouted. "Chemistry is all the way on the other side of the school, and as of now we only have, like, thirty seconds to get there."

"There goes your perfect attendance record," the snarky girl out of the three friends said.

"Bella, could you try to be civil for once?" Jessica told the mahogany-haired girl, but her tone was light and it was obvious that she didn't really mean what she said.

I glanced over at the Bella girl. She looked oddly familiar... Perhaps I had seen someone who looked like her up in Alaska?

"No, I cannot," Bella said, avoiding my gaze. "Not when Miss Perfect won't live a little."

Angela rolled her eyes. "Puh-lease. I am anythin' _but_ perfect."

"That doesn't stop you from tryin'," Bella responded. But I could tell that she was only teasing Angela just to annoy her.

"Whatever, Bella," Angela shrugged and stared in the opposite direction of Bella.

Jessica playfully rolled her eyes at her friends, and met my eyes, a small smile on her face. I smiled back, finding their conversation amusing too.

The bell rang and I saw Angela cringe. Perfect attendance must mean a lot to her. I wondered how she made it to junior year without any tardies when it seemed to me that her group of friends liked to stand in the hallways between classes just to talk.

"So, Edward," Angela said as we ambled along, taking our time now that the threat of the bell wasn't affecting us anymore. "Where are you from?"

"Alaska," I answered.

"Alaska's a pretty big place," Bella said. "Would ya mind elaboratin'?"

I ignored her not-so-friendly tone and responded, "Denali. More specifically, Cantwell."

"So would you happen to know anythin' about Tanya?" she inquired. She goes to Cantwell High School where I assume you attended."

I nodded in answer to both of her questions, feeling that it would be safer to not go into the details.

"She's my cousin," Bella explained. She still wouldn't look me in the face and I wondered why.

Jessica nudged my arm. "How was registration yesterday? Did Ms. Cope keep you long with stories about her cats?"

"Registration was fine," I muttered, not wishing to explain. Jessica frowned but didn't press for details.

Angela turned down one of the side hallways and the rest of us followed her lead. All of us continued to make small talk, but when Angela stopped in front of a small, box-shaped classroom with the door shut, we all fell silent.

"Well." Jessica took a deep breath and continued: "Who wants to go in first?"

We were all saved from making the decision of who to enter the classroom first when a wrinkly old man with feathery white hair opened the classroom door and frowned upon us. "So nice of you to join class. I presume that you four are Isabella Cullen, Jessica Stanley, Angela Weber, and Edward Masen?"

Bella stared at the teacher. "No," she said curtly.

"And your name...?" the teacher inquired censoriously at her impolite and blunt lie.

"Bella."

The teacher smiled humourlessly. "Well, Isabella, I have a firm no-tardy policy. I offer a choice to my students who find themselves arriving to class after the bell: automatic detention or a thousand word essay on a well-researched topic that I choose. But it seems to be that you, Isabella, have decided the fate for all four of you."

"Sir?" Angela asked timidly. Her expression showed everyone that she was terrified of the chemistry teacher and the punishment he had decided for us.

He continued on as if not hearing Angela. Considering that he was the age of a senior citizen, it was probably wise to assume that he didn't hear her. Of course, the fact that a large, fleshy coloured hearing aid was in his left ear meant nothing to me when I made my assumption.

"Isabella has kindly chosen for all of you to serve detention after school today to work on your thousand word essay which is due at 11:59 tonight. There is no room for negotiations. Am I understood?" Mr Dye said.

Bella rolled her eyes in response while Angela bit her lip and looked as if she were about to cry. Jessica and I looked at each other and shrugged.

"Yeah," Jessica said, answering for all of us once we realised too late that the teacher expected a response.

"Good. Unfortunately class has been delayed because of your tardiness. Please take your seats. Everyone has been arranged in alphabetical order." The chemistry teacher disappeared into his classroom.

Jessica shrugged again and entered the room. The rest of us followed somewhat warily. Mr Dye shut the door behind us, the loud sound of the door locking shut echoing in the eerily still classroom.

Scanning the room, I saw the three girls disperse to their seat based on recognition of their classmates whom they'd been in school with since they were all in diapers. I, for one, knew no last names and I stood by the door feeling a bit foolish.

"Mr Masen, is there something wrong?" Mr Dye peered at me with his small grey eyes.

"I am a new student from Alaska, sir. I know none of these people nor have any idea what their last names are. So I don't know where to sit."

"Process of elimination," Mr Dye said dryly. He pointed to a vacant seat in the back. "How about you go sit in the only empty seat in the classroom?"

I felt myself blush from embarrassment. "Yes," I responded dumbly. "All right, then."

The only empty seat happened to be in the far left corner of the classroom. The rectangular black lab desk table allowed six students at most to be seated around it but presently only four chairs graced its edges. I slid into the vacant seat across from Bella.

"Hey," I said in a gregarious tone. "Long time no see."

She stiffened but other than that gave no indication that she heard what I said. The girl next to her stared at Bella and then at me before smirking, giving her an elfish look what with her pixie hair cut and delicate facial features.

"Pay no mind to Bella," she trilled in a ridiculously high soprano voice.

I smiled at her. She seemed nicer than Bella. "Yeah?"

The elfish looking girl giggled. "She's...havin' a hard time being a vegetarian right now, so to speak." Then she giggled again as if it were a joke everyone knew.

"Alice Cullen," Mr Dye said, unnecessarily projecting his voice. The class was already quiet, and his voice reverberated off the walls in the silence. Everyone's eyes were focused on our corner of the room. "Would you mind telling the class what's so funny?"

Alice grinned at the chemistry teacher. "Of _course_ not," she sang out. "Because if _every_one knew the joke it wouldn't be as funny."

Mr Dye frowned, finding it hard to reason with logic, but not accepting her sarcastic tone of voice. "Humph," was all he muttered. "Now kindly stop disrupting class so I can get on with the lesson."

"We're actually doin' lessons on the first day of school?" the big brawny guy next to me questioned, his tone disgusted. He visibly brightened as he added: "Wait, does that mean we're gonna be mixin' chemicals together and settin' the tables on fire?"

"That is most assuredly _not_ what we will be doing, Emmett. See me after class so we can discuss proper behaviour in a classroom."

The guy next to me pouted and slouched down in his chair. "Damn," he muttered. "There went my hopes in havin' a productive year grade wise."

"Blowing stuff up is your thing?" I asked him.

Emmett gave me a glance. "Yup. Considerin' that it is relatively simple and there isn't much to go wrong. But of course I _make_ things go wrong just to get a reaction out of the chemicals." He chuckled at his word play.

Alice rolled her eyes at him. Startling, familiar gold-looking eyes. I scrunched my eyebrows together. Surely this wasn't the girl I had met yesterday...? She obviously hadn't seen me before this class period, so I guess it wasn't my mystery girl.

"One of these days, Emmett," Alice said exasperatedly. "One of these days you're gonna mix some seemingly harmless chemicals together and you're gonna blow your eyebrows off."

Emmett chuckled and said jokingly: "Glad you can predict the future, Alice." Then, for added effect, he closed his eyes and did a bunch of exaggerated _Ohm's._

The tiny pixie-haired girl reached across the table and swatted Emmett's arm. "Screw you, you big-headed pig."

"Shut up!" Bella hissed, eyes flashing dangerously at Alice and Emmett. "I can't concentrate with you two babblin' on about nothin'!"

Emmett just gave her a big lopsided grin. "Will ya ever lighten up, Dumbbell?" He chuckled at his pun, not realizing his mistake.

Bella's eyes narrowed. "Did you just call me 'Dumbbell'?"

"Yeah," Emmett nodded, pleased with himself. "Good one, right?"

Her face hardened. "Yeah," she echoed. "Because of course I am _definitely_ not offended being called 'dumb' or a 'bell'."

Emmett's eyes widened. "Oh, shit, Bella. I wasn't calling you a dumbbell. Well, I was. But you know, like liftin' weights. Like I was sayin', 'lighten up, dumbbell'. Those types of dumbbells. Not a dumb bell in the sense of you being the bell or being called dumb," he rambled.

"Bro, I think you might want to shut it for a second?" I said as I took note of Bella's murderous glance that darkened considerably as Emmett tried to amend his mistake.

Alice snorted. "Well, Emmett, I think it's safe to predict that Bella's not gonna fight fair once we get home."

Bella answered with a low snarl, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Next to me Emmett gulped loudly. "Well, uh, I think I might need to go take a breather." He waved his hand obnoxiously at our chemistry teacher. "Mr Dye? I, uh, I need to go to the bathroom. Badly."

I saw the old man click his left hearing aid off so he couldn't hear Emmett. He continued to drone on about the safety lab instructions, a topic nobody was listening to because we'd all heard the same lecture ever since grade school.

"Just go," Alice hissed over at Emmett. "He won't notice you've left since he's now half-deaf. But make it fast."

Emmett glanced over at Bella nervously before giving Alice a look that plainly read _There is no way I am hurrying back._

Alice scrunched her face up. "If you get our family in trouble on the first day..." she started menacingly.

Emmett took that moment to bolt out of the classroom, so fast I couldn't have been sure he was more than a blur.

Strange.

"Take out a piece of paper. We're going to have a pop quiz to see if any of you were paying attention to me," Mr Dye said suddenly, shaking my mind out of its sleep mode.

"Paper?" Alice offered Bella and me as she withdrew a well-stocked folder full of blank sheets of lined paper. Bella shook her head while I took my piece gratefully.

"Thanks," I said. Alice's hand brushed mine accidentally and I was shocked to notice how cool her skin was.

She immediately snatched her hand back and did not meet my curious gaze. She wrote out her name in spiky letters at the top of her paper, obviously ignoring me.

"Stop starin' at Alice," Bella snapped.

I focused my gaze on Bella. "Why would you care? It's not like I'm looking at you." I said this in attempt for her to finally make eye contact with her, but I did not realise the danger of provoking Bella when her temper was already past its breaking point.

Golden eyes flashed up to meet mine. "Stay away from me and my family," she growled. Her nose wrinkled unappreciatively. "And consider takin' a shower. Smellin' like a wet dog is not considered attractive down in the South."

"Thanks for the advice," I shot back. "Maybe I'll consider using it when I'm actually trying to impress somebody." I ignored Alice's gasp of shock. I continued to stare into Bella's golden eyes that were slowly hardening into dark, shadowed orbs of hate.

"Alice, do you have any water? I'm thirsty and have this horrible headache," Bella muttered, stopping our staring contest.

Alice shook her head quickly and gathered up her stuff. "C'mon, Bells. Water fountain is just a few feet outside. Then we'll go home. Behave, okay?"

Bella didn't answer as she was already out the door.

Alice flashed me an apologetic smile as she flew out the classroom door too. Mr Dye hadn't noticed a single thing until he happened to glance at my table and realised that I was surrounded by vacant chairs. He opened his mouth to say something but the tinny sound of the electronic bell interrupted him. Everyone stood up and rushed out the door.

Class dismissed.


	4. Chapter Four

**Disclaimer: As always, Twilight is not mine.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 4:<p>

"So how were your classes?"

Somehow Jessica had managed to find me in the lunchroom. I guess it wasn't that hard considering I was one out of a handful of people who was not wearing a cowboy hat on their head.

"Fine," I said as she settled onto the uncomfortable plastic seat across from me. Angela sat next to Jessica and looked at me questioningly, her head tilted slightly to the left. Her eyes were thoughtful and contemplating. It was pretty unnerving in a certain way.

"What did ya do to Bella in Chemistry?" Jessica said curiously, but there was a blunt edge to her voice which made me think that she was slightly irate that I had offended her friend.

Ah. So that's what this was about. I should have already known. They were her best friends and would naturally want to know every single little detail concerning each other.

Angela continued to stare at me. I felt myself start to fidget with my water bottle cap. Wow. I was getting intimidated by this little wisp of a thing.

"Edward?" Jessica asked.

I realised I looked guilty right now, avoiding eye contact with both of them and squirming in my seat. I made sure to look Jessica in the eye as I said calmly: "Just a misunderstanding. Bella misinterpreted the situation. She left because of a headache or something." I felt myself becoming hypnotised by Jessica's eyes. They were a soft liquid gold, mesmerising and shimmering with flecks of hazel.

Whoa. Gold eyes? Did people wear coloured contacts here? I was pretty sure having gold as an eye colour was considered abnormal in most parts of the world. But I guess it made sense in some weird way because this was Texas, a place where apparently people thought it was perfectly acceptable to have gold eyes.

"Bella doesn't get headaches," Angela said quietly, suspicion flickering across her face. Her own gold eyes narrowed at me.

My head was swimming. There were too many piercing yellow eyes in this place. I could not find a reasonable explanation for the unusual and unnatural eye colour. I could barely focus with Angela's gold eyes locked on my perfectly normal green eyes.

"…she wouldn't have done somethin' as irrational as that either," Jessica mused. Her eyes snapped to my unfocused eyes. "Edward! Honestly, could ya make an effort to pay attention to us? We're tryin' to figure out what's up with our best friend and you're not helpin' at all."

"Did you guys always have gold eyes?" I blurted out in a seemingly random manner to them. I had not processed anything that they had said in the past two minutes and I did not bother to try to cover up that fact.

Angela and Jessica shared a shifty, private look. "It's a school spirit thing," Jessica smoothly explained to me.

I rolled my eyes at her obvious lie. "Yeah, and I'll believe that when I go back to kindergarten and relearn all my colours." I snorted. "Seriously. I've been here long enough to get my head crammed full of Ponder history. I know for a fact that the school colour is red and not gold."

"Crimson," Angela corrected me absentmindedly. "Like blood." She gestured towards my untouched food. "We're sorry for takin' up your lunch time, Edward. See ya 'round." She got up and tugged on Jessica's arm.

Jessica frowned at Angela. "He hasn't answered anythin' yet!" she hissed at the porcelain-skinned Asian girl.

"He's said plenty," Angela argued back. A barely noticeable sharp, warning look passed between the two girls. "Bella had a headache. That's plenty of information."

I glanced between the two suspiciously. "Um, you told me Bella doesn't get headaches?"

Angela waved me off as she kept talking to Jessica. "I need to research something, Jess. Come with me to the library."

Something was definitely off. For one thing, Angela, who I had dubbed as the quite, peace-maker in the group, was getting decidedly riled up about something. And her Southern accent had dropped when she spoke her last sentence. I frowned at the two girls. What type of secrets could they possibly be keeping?

"The library hasn't opened yet. And you two still haven't explained the gold eyes thing..." My voice trailed off as I watched them leave the cafeteria, their shoulders hunched as they whispered furtively to each other, completely ignoring me.

Well. So much for answers. I failed to see the whole purpose of the conversation that had taken place.

As soon as they left, a guy slid into the seat next to me, his lunch tray filled with all sorts of nasty cafeteria food. "Don't mind them. I swear those two are bipolar at times."

"True story," I agreed. "I'm Edward—"

"Masen," the guy interrupted and took a big bite of his Caesar salad. He then proceeded to talk around his mouthful of lettuce. "Yeah, the whole school knows who you are. The Alaskan newbie. Lots of rumours about you today." He chuckled, swallowed, and then glanced at me, sizing me up. "Hmm. Question is which ones to believe?"

I laughed. "Tell me some of them."

He shrugged. "They all suck. And the rumours are all full of obvious BS. It takes an idiot to believe rumours as lame as these. But considerin' half the school doesn't know how to spell 'idiot' they take all these half-assed lies for the truth."

"Yeah?" I said to fill in the awkward pause that followed his words.

He grinned. "I'm Seth Clearwater. Also known as 'Paws' around here."

"Nice to meet you, Seth." I hesitated for a second before asking: "Paws?"

"Long story." Seth took a huge bite out of his spaghetti, easily eating over half of the mini mountain of sauce-covered pasta in that one bite. He slurped the noodles up and continued. "Let's just say that it was a rumour that got outta hand."

"Does this school only live on rumours?"

"Nah," Seth said. "Other superficial stuff too. Like how Bella Cullen doesn't like new people."

I grinned at his sarcasm. I could tell this guy was pretty mellow and relaxed about life. That was pretty admirable and rare to find in a person these days. "So I hear," I told him.

Seth shrugged and finished his salad and spaghetti within the next two fork loads that made their way into his mouth. "She's not worth any guy's time. I mean, sure she's hot but that's about all she has goin' for her. Not many guys are interested in the cat-and-mouse game she plays."

"Do I sense a hidden past, Seth?" I questioned, not knowing if my intuition was correct or not concerning whether there had been some sort of past between the two.

Seth rolled his eyes good-naturedly. His tone was light but there was an undercurrent of something not-so-friendly in his voice. "Key word: hidden. As in, a secret."

"That's cool, man," I said, raising my hands palm up. "I meant no disrespect."

"None taken," Seth answered. We were both pretty quiet after that. I decided to utilise that moment to eat a few bites of my own lunch.

When I had decided that I had enough of the toxic food, I dumped my tray into the rubbish bin. Then, I took the folded-up green schedule out of the back pocket of my jeans and squinted at it. "Do you know where Hale's room is? Room E6274?"

Seth nodded. "That's my next class. But I never woulda pegged you for the weather and meteorology type."

I shrugged. "First impressions aren't always accurate," I responded.

"Way to sound like a fortune cookie, bro," Seth snickered as the bell rang signalling the end of lunch. He jumped up and moved in the same direction as the swarm of people that poured from the cafeteria into the main hall. Then he turned left down a less crowded side-hallway. I kept pace with him and followed him to wherever my next class was supposed to be.

Seth strode confidently into the meteorology class and gave me the universal guy chin-jerk thing before he sat down in a desk before chatting animatedly with some guys who I deduced to be his friends. I shuffled hesitantly inside the classroom. It was like Chemistry all over again—I had no idea where to sit. This time, though, I decided to not make a fool of myself and randomly sat down in an empty desk.

The blonde girl sitting on my right gave me a dirty look. "That's Bella Cullen's seat," she informed me haughtily.

I stared into those dark blue almost violet eyes. "What she doesn't know won't hurt her," I retorted. "And how the hell does she have her seat picked out if it's only the first day of school?"

Blondie shrugged and ignored me after that. I was glad I was no longer under the scrutiny of her unnaturally coloured violet eyes. Violet was not a common eye colour but at least it was not the gold I had come to expect when I met someone's gaze.

The teacher, Ms. Hale, called the class to attention as soon as the tardy bell rang. "Okay, guys, I know none of you save for my daughter, Rosalie Hale."

The whole class turned and looked at Blondie who was flushing slightly but met everyone's curious stare with a challenge in her eyes. Eventually the class turned back to the front but I could tell from Blondie's stiff posture that she did not enjoy being the centre of attention.

Ms. Hale continued on as if nothing had happened. She must be new; she seemed a little too buddy-buddy for a seasoned teacher. "Please forgive me if I screw up your name." She glanced down at her computer and read: "Jane? Jane Alec?"

"Here," a soft-spoken little girl squeaked out from the back.

I noticed Blondie made a not-so subtle face at Jane. Jane gave Rosalie a sneer in return and flipped her long blonde hair over one shoulder like all those lame-ass cheerleader girls did in chick flicks. Blondie reciprocated by wrinkling her nose at the little girl and a glare that could cut glass.

"Bad blood?" I asked Blondie in a low voice.

"Not your business," Blondie muttered back.

"Thanks," I answered, unaffected by her attitude. Snobby bitches existed in Alaska too and I had perfected the technique of not retaliating to their verbal assaults.

Blondie just scowled. Ms. Hale had thankfully not noticed any of the on-going tension between her daughter and me. She was continuing role call and was on the C's when she said: "Alison Cullen?" No response. "Alison Cullen?" she tried again before moving on. "Isabella Cullen?"

One look at Rosalie's disgusted face and I could practically hear what she was thinking: _Snarky little butthead._

I ignored whatever hate Rosalie had towards Bella and tried to make neutral conversation.

"Is that Bella's name?" I whispered to Rosalie. I was rewarded with a dark look. Guess my attempt at neutrality didn't go over so well. "Bella left during first period today," I informed Ms. Hale since Blondie wasn't answering my question, and no one else was volunteering information about her whereabouts.

The teacher nodded, marking down Bella's absence on her roll sheet and continuing down the list. When she came to my name, she said: "Edward Masen?"

"Here," I said. The entire class turned to look at me. Faint whispers of 'Alaskan newbie' started up.

Blondie glanced over at me. "You know Bella?"

Her tone was by no means sociable or warm. "Um, yeah," I stuttered out. "But we aren't on friendly terms. She ditched Chemistry because of me."

"Cool." Blondie pursed her lips and frowned at me. "You don't seem like you have a strong character. But if you can hold your own against Stinkerbelle I have to like you."

"Have to?"

Blondie rolled her eyes. "I don't like anybody, Masen, and it can stay that way if you wanna keep talkin' like that to me."

I shrugged. "Whatever you want, Rosalie."

Her eyes narrowed but she sighed and gave me a nod. "If you ever need a partner in crime when plottin' against Bella just let me know. I'd be glad to help you out."

I flashed a half-smile at her. "Will do." I leaned towards her conspiratorially. "I happen to know that she hates the smell of wet dog. Just in case you were wondering."

Blondie barked out a gleeful laugh eliciting strange stares from her mother and our fellow classmates. Lowering her voice, she told me: "Thanks for the insider, Masen. I now have a plan if you ever wanna mess with her again."

"Count me in." I gave Blondie a secretive grin.

School was much more tolerable now that I had the incentive to work on this prank Blondie and I are going to pull on Bella.

.

.

**Tuesday**

Tuesday passed without incident. There was minimal interaction with the Cullen family, Rosalie kept her like-hate relationship up with me, and Seth introduced me to his group of friends. Something told me that Seth was the only one who seemed to enjoy my presence. Everyone else here in Texas was distantly polite and made no effort to befriend me.

Teachers ignored me for the most part and deemed it fit to give every junior at the high school homework on the second day of school. They didn't seem so different from the teachers in Alaska besides their Southern twang.

None to say the least, Tuesday was boring. Just like all the other days I had been living in Texas.

.

.

**Wednesday**

I had just stepped through the front doors of the high school on Wednesday morning when I was confronted by a breathless Jessica and a worried Angela.

"Edward! Have you seen Bella today?" Jessica asked me frantically.

"Um, no, I don't think so," I answered with a nonchalant shrug. "Why?" If Isabella Cullen wasn't at school today, I was going to be majorly pissed that the brilliant prank Rosalie and I had planned would be delayed for another twenty-four hours.

Angela twirled the end of her ponytail nervously. "We haven't been able to talk to her, not since she left Chemistry on Monday. We're just worried. It's not like her to be out of touch for so long."

I opened my mouth to answer when some guy behind me yelled: "Yo buddy! Move outta the doorway!"

Jessica glared at the guy. "I thought I made it perfectly clear, Tyler, that anyone who gave Edward shit would get twice as much shit from me."

Tyler gulped and immediately shut up. I rolled my eyes at him and made a big production of stepping aside from the front doors. He flipped me the middle finger in response and muttered something rude about Eskimos. Wow, that guy needed to work on his stereotypes. There was no way an Eskimo would be found in Texas.

"Bella hasn't disappeared like this in awhile. I hope everythin' is okay," Angela murmured under her breath, so low I wasn't sure if I was supposed to hear it.

"She'll be fine, Angela," Jessica soothed her. Jessica eyed me harshly, those gold eyes paralysing me. "If I find out that you were the reason behind her absence from school these past couple of days..." Her voice trailed off threateningly before she turned on her heel and walked away towards Chemistry, leaving me sweating and nervous.

Angela studied me. There was no doubt that she could hear my racing heart from where she stood. "There'll be hell to pay, Edward," she said, finishing Jessica's sentence. Or perhaps she was channelling an inner Alice and was speaking cryptically just to annoy me. "Don't mess with Bella or us anymore." She followed Jessica down to the Chemistry hallway.

Oh. So much for cryptic answers. The meaning in her last sentence was obvious enough.

.

.

"Guess what I heard today," Seth told me as soon as I sat down in Meteorology.

I let out a noncommittal grunt so he knew that I heard him. I wasn't exactly interested in anything after the encounter with Angela and Jessica this morning.

"Rumour has it the Cullens are movin' to Alaska. Pretty great, right?"

"Alaska?" I spluttered. Was that a coincidence? I moved away from Alaska to Texas, and the Cullens are going to move to Alaska away from Texas.

Seth gave me a _duh_ look. "Um, yeah, that's what I said." He slid into Rosalie's seat. Oh damn, she was going to be pissed. I opted not to say anything to him, though.

"Paws, out," Blondie snarled when she entered the classroom. She actually snapped and pointed to the ugly blue-carpeted school floor. "Down, boy."

Seth rolled his eyes at her but followed her orders. "I'm not a dog, Rosalie."

She shrugged. "Whatever. You still did what I said, so I don't care whether you're a dog or a sheep."

"How about 'human'?" Seth said with a scowl.

"Start actin' like one, Paws." Rosalie glanced over at me. "You sure got the gold-eyed freaks all pissed, Masen."

Thank God I wasn't the only one who found their eye colour weird. "Care to elaborate?"

She propped her feet up on my desk and said in an off-handed tone: "Stinkerbelle's been absent for an awfully long time." Blondie suddenly focused her attention on me. "Normally she's the one with best attendance out of those three. And with her absent, the cronies have no idea what to do. Not to mention Stinkerbelle's family has been suspiciously off the radar for two days now. That's, like, a personal record for the Cullen family since they have that trouble-makin' bear of a guy."

Seth's jaw dropped open. "Damn, Rosalie, that must be the longest I've ever heard ya speak."

"Yeah, and it's gonna stay that way," Blondie retorted. She turned to me, her dark blue, almost-violet eyes burning. "So tell me, Masen. I wanna know what you did to piss them off. God knows I've been tryin' to do that ever since I met them."

"Um..." I stalled. I honestly had no idea. I was just being me that day I met them in Chemistry. Thankfully the tardy bell rang before I could answer.

Ms. Hale stood up and surveyed the classroom. "Settle down, ya'll," she said lightly in a half-assed attempt for us to lower our voices. "Where are the Cullens?"

"Alaska!" Seth crowed gleefully from his position on the floor.

Ms. Hale squinted down at the aisle between my desk and Rosalie's. "Is that you, Seth? What are you doing down on the floor?"

Seth pouted. "Your daughter was bein' rude to me and decided that I wasn't worthy enough to sit in a desk."

A stern look was directed Blondie's way by Ms. Hale. Blondie ignored her mother and shot daggers at Seth. Ouch.

"Have they really moved to Alaska or is that just a rumour, Seth?" Ms. Hale questioned as she turned on the overhead projector to start the lesson.

Silence. Seth muttered something incoherent and started blushing furiously.

"Were you, perhaps, the one who started this rumour?"

No answer. I was starting to rethink my impression of the meteorology teacher. She seemed pretty scary.

"I will not ask you of your motives or of your sources, but I do suggest that you refrain from starting or spreading rumours, Seth. Am I understood?"

"Yes'm," Seth said ashamedly.

Ms. Hale nodded and began the lesson with a review of the types of clouds and how to classify them. Since we all knew the material, Blondie took that opportunity to make fun of Seth.

"Hey, Paws, looks like someone's in the doghouse," Blondie grinned smugly.

"Very original, Rosalie," Seth answered in a flat tone, clearly unamused by her comment. "D'you know what you call a smart blonde?"

"A golden retriever," Blondie promptly answered and rolled her eyes at him. "Talk about an over-used joke."

Seth stuck his tongue out at Rosalie. I cracked a smile. He wasn't doing himself any good by acting immature.

"Edward, Rosalie, Seth," Ms. Hale called to us exasperatedly. "If you three feel like you don't need this review, please kindly leave and stop distracting the rest of the class."

"Thank God, Ms. Hale!" Blondie grinned. She jumped out of her seat and was out the door.

Ms. Hale frowned, obviously not expecting that reaction. She glanced tiredly over at Seth and me. "You two, leave. I'll see all of ya'll down in the assistant principal's office in a moment."

I got up. Apparently Texas was strict with their discipline. Or not so strict. It depended on the way you looked at it. Whatever. I held out a hand to Seth. He took it gratefully and stood up from the floor.

"Let's go, Edward. Down to the AP's office we go," Seth said and followed Blondie out of the classroom.

I grabbed my stuff before exiting the classroom. I quickly caught up to Blondie and Seth who were taking their time walking down the hallway. "Where's the AP office?" I asked.

Blondie rolled her eyes at me. "As if I'd step foot in that place. I'm ditchin'. Any of ya'll wanna ride home?"

"Ditchin'?" Seth's eyes practically bugged out of his head. "But there's still three class periods left!"

Blondie shrugged. "So? It's only the third day of school. All we ever do is review. And I'm sick of this place. There's no one to mess with now that Cullen is gone."

I glanced between Seth and Blondie. "I'm in. C'mon Seth. Worst case scenario is that you won't get perfect attendance this year." I found myself thinking about Angela when I mentioned perfect attendance. Inevitably, my thoughts were then drawn to Bella. I shook my head to clear those pesky musings. Then I looked over at Seth as I waited for his answer about whether he would ditch school with us or not.

He mulled over his options for a moment. Then, in a last desperate attempt, he warned Blondie: "Your momma is gonna give you hell."

Another shrug from Rosalie. "Seth, if I cared about that I woulda never have left her classroom in the first place."

"Okay, fine," Seth said resignedly, accepting that he was out of excuses. "Let's go."

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><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>The blonde joke about the golden retriever is from Breaking Dawn. I don't take credit for it!<strong>**

**Review!  
><strong>

****And, in case you were wondering, _Frozen Fire_, the vampire Rosalie/human Emmett love story is now up and running. Read and review that story too, please!****


	5. Chapter Five

**Disclaimer: Not mine. Not mine. Not mine.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 5:<p>

**Thursday**

I took my seat in Chemistry. I was early today; the relatively silent classroom was empty and the dead air hampered any sort of energy. Mr Dye was currently absent from the room, but the daily warm-up left on the SmartBoard announced his unofficial presence.

Five minutes passed by. I took out a fresh sheet of paper, copied down the question about Avogadro's number and how to convert it to moles or whatnot, and then proceeded to doodle in the margins of the paper instead of answering the warm-up. The clock on the wall was one of those audible ones, and I heard the minute-hand tick by at least ten times. The air-conditioning kicked in a couple seconds later, blocking out all noise with its own annoying whir. Fourteen minutes of listening to the rattling noise and I was ready to flip shit or something. I was still the only one in the class.

I found myself in a situation where my surroundings of the vacant room and the droning noise of the air-conditioning lulled me to sleep. It wasn't like I would stay asleep all of first period anyways. I would wake up sooner or later.

Hopefully later.

.

.

The next thing I knew, something that sounded suspiciously like my alarm clock rung. After the initial shock of being jolted awake had worn off, I realised that the tardy bell had buzzed. Out of curiosity, I turned to Bella's seat. Absent. No surprise there.

"Howdy, buddy," a burly guy next to me grinned.

"Holy crap!" I exclaimed. For once my table was not void of any people — Alice and Emmett had decided to return to school.

Emmett's grin only grew wider. "Well, that's not the greetin' I expected."

I unsuccessfully tried to calm my racing heart. "Um, yeah. Hey."

Alice laughed, the sound echoing through the room like tinkling bells. I hadn't known that the acoustics in the Chemistry classroom were so good. "Hi, Edward. Miss us much?" She laughed again. I felt like someone had stuck sleigh bells inside of my head or something. "Of course you didn't. You were asleep like the dead!"

I gave her a weak smile. "Yeah," I answered, feeling as if that were the safest way to answer the hyped-up pixie girl.

She gradually ceased her melodic laughing and tipped her head to one side as she studied me carefully. Those golden eyes of hers made me catch my breath and my heart rate to speed up.

"Don't be mad at us," Alice whispered in her ridiculously high soprano voice as Mr Dye went over the answer to the warm-up.

"Mad? Me? Why would I be mad?" I said.

Emmett let out a spasm-cough. I glared at him knowing that he was unsuccessfully trying to cover a laugh. He gave me an innocent smile in return. I answered with an undignified snort.

Alice gave me a sad smile. "Denial doesn't suit you, Edward. Don't ever go to Egypt."

I directed my glare towards her. "I wasn't aware that I was talking to a travel agent." De Nile? Honestly, that had to be the oldest joke in the book.

Alice opened her mouth to answer me but shut it as soon as Bella entered the classroom in an admirably late fashion. "Howdy," Alice murmured to her sister.

Bella nodded in Alice's direction and ignored Emmett and me. I turned to Emmett, a gloating smirk on my face.

"Trouble in paradise?" I jibed.

"Long story," he rolled his eyes. "But short story is I managed to piss her off again."

Bella sniffed haughtily but didn't openly acknowledge us two guys.

I bit my lip to refrain from laughing at the drama queen. I flicked my eyes over to where Mr Dye was instructing the rest of the class on something or other. Honestly I had no valid reason as to why I should memorise the Periodic Table of Elements. After all, handout sheets were always available on tests, not to mention Mr Dye had hung a big-ass poster of the Periodic Table on the wall.

"Ah, the Cullens are back," Mr Dye remarked a few minutes later as he took attendance. He stood by his ancient dinosaur of a computer and peered at our back table over the top of his equally ancient bifocals. This guy could've easily come from the early 1800's and still look modern. "You three have a lot of catching up to do," Mr Dye continued.

I was mildly interested at this point. I couldn't recall doing anythingin the couple of days that the Cullens had been absent. During Chemistry, mostly everyone just sat at their tables and listened to Mr Dye lecture about something or the other. There hadn't been any worksheets or PowerPoints or lessons or anything. Just blahblah this and blahblah that from the wrinkly old guy.

Talk about boring.

"We did a safety lab on Tuesday which the three of you will have to make up." Mr Dye glanced at the Cullens again. "Alice and Emmett. Would you mind working together for the lab? And then Isabella, you'll be working with Edward."

Bella quickly interrupted the Chemistry teacher. ""Sir, I won't be needin' a partner. I work better independently."

Mr Dye frowned, obviously not used to students negotiating his orders. "Edward has already done this lab, Isabella."

_I have?_ I thought to myself. Hm. I must have zoned out during it. Or I might have just let my partner do all the work. I can't exactly remember anything about this lab I apparently did on Tuesday.

"You'll find that working with him would be to your advantage," Mr Dye said.

Bella glared at him with those gold eyes. "I refuse to work with him," she replied adamantly. She didn't look my way once.

Alice nudged her sister. "Bella," she sang out in a whisper. "You're makin' a big deal outta nothin'."

Bella didn't bat an eye. She continued to stare at Mr Dye.

"A zero, then," Mr Dye finalised with a gusty sigh and some sort of disappointment in his usually emotionless voice. "I do not tolerate any sort of refusal to comply with my directions, Isabella."

Bella sat back in her chair, a triumphant smile on her face. Bad grades obviously didn't affect her.

"You'd rather take a zero than work with me?" I asked her incredulously once Mr Dye had resumed instructing the class as a whole. "Wow. I don't know if I should be flattered or offended."

She turned that cold, golden gaze onto me, finally acknowledging my presence. "Shut up, Edward."

I grinned, unfazed by her attitude. Rosalie was starting to rub off on me in the sense that I was starting to find annoying Bella Cullen fun. I leaned forward, taking up as much of her space as I could. "Make me."

Bella recoiled at my close proximity. I saw her hold her breath, and her eyes darkened angrily.

"What's wrong?" I taunted her. "Do I smell today?" I made a big show of sniffing myself. "Shame. I thought that wearing Axe attracted the ladies."

Emmett guffawed next to me. "Bro, you smell as if you went to a doggie salon instead of a human one."

Alice giggled and added her own two cents' worth. "Eau de Mutt. An awful smellin' choice, Edward."

I flashed a smile at the two Cullens who were pretty tolerable at the moment. The third one scowled at me and pantomimed gagging and reached out to shove me away.

"Get a life, Masen," Bella sneered. She dramatically pinched the sides of her nose together. "And no amount of Axe cologne or Eau de Mutt or whatever you use will make me 'attracted' to you."

I held my hands my over my heart. "You wound me, Bella!" I said sarcastically. She just rolled her eyes in response and unsuccessfully tried to ignore me.

Mr Dye suddenly swooped in next to our table as if he were a hawk pouncing on prey. He moved way too agilely for a senior citizen. I would have pegged him more as a dinosaur and not a hawk. "Alice and Emmett, here are your instructions. Get to work on the safety lab. Isabella and Edward. You two are in high school and should start acting like high school students. Do I need to give you some busy work and separate the two of you?"

Bella and I glanced at each other. Without breaking eye contact I answered: "No, sir" while she said "Yes please, sir".

Mr Dye harrumphed but finally left our table. Emmett immediately shoved the lab instructions to the side and struck model poses to show off his muscles while Alice giggled and shook her head of inky hair.

"She won't ever notice you," Bella informed her brother, her eyes darting over to smirk at the ridiculous sight of Emmett bulging his abnormally large muscles.

Emmett pouted briefly. "Not when you're around, she won't."

Bella's jaw dropped open in dismay. "The audacity of you to suggest such a thing!" she shrieked. "It's not my fault you're not Mr Good Looking!"

I watched the ongoing exchange with interest. It was nice to know Bella didn't only yell at me. But I pitied Emmett — it was obvious he had a knack for pissing Bella off, intentionally or not.

Emmett gave Bella a warm, teddy-bear kind of smile. "I love you, Izzy-Bella, did ya know that? You're the bestest sister in the whole wide world."

My gaze slid over to Alice. She didn't look upset by Emmett's proclamation. On the contrary, she looked completely amused by her brother's antics.

Bella, however, was undoubtedly and thoroughly annoyed. "Screw you, Emmett. There's no such thing as 'bestest sister'. Go be useful for once and bother Alice."

He shook his head. "No can do. She already finished the lab. Now she's usin' her weird psychic abilities to tell me what's for lunch."

Bella's golden eyes widened slightly and she glanced at me nervously.

"What?" I asked pointedly. "Are you afraid I'm going to blab about Alice's freaky supernatural talents?" I was being entirely sarcastic but it seemed as if Bella was taking me literally. She had started gnawing on her bottom lip as if there were no tomorrow.

"Um, what did you just say?" Alice inquired lightly.

I glanced between the two Cullen girls. "I was talking about your supposed freak-of-nature gifts," I said slowly. "I don't mean any offense, Alice, but we all know you just rely on common sense and pure luck to 'predict' things."

Randomly Emmett let out one of his booming laughs. "You are one sharp piece of barbed wire, man." He grinned at his sisters. "C'mon, guys, chill." He paused as he considered his words, a secretive smile on his face. A half-smile slowly appeared on Alice's face — it must've been a family inside joke. "Masen here seems to already know all your deepest darkest secrets-"

Bella quickly cut him off. "Take some Pepto-Shut-Up to cure that verbal diarrhea, Emmett," she said in voice that could cut glass.

"Why'd you interrupt him?" I challenged her. "Apparently I already know all your secrets."

Bella glared at me. "Because you're only human."

"What does that mean?"

The inconvenient bell rang, saving her from having to answer.

Fine then. I would just ask again in Meteorology. Eventually she would have to give in and indulge me with all of her clandestine secrets. I was notoriously known for being persistent and annoying until I got my way. Not to mention that I had Rosalie on my side for back-up. Something told me that she wouldn't be one to pass up a perfectly good opportunity to get on Bella's nerves.

.

.

"Is Blondie here today?" I asked Seth as we walked from lunch to Meteorology.

He gave me a smart-alecky grin and answered cheekily: "If you're talkin' 'bout who I think you are, then yes."

I rolled my eyes at his (slightly) confusing round-about way of speaking. I knew he only did it to bother me. He was definitely succeeding. "A simple 'yes' would have sufficed, Seth."

Seth shrugged, his crisp light blue button-down shirt wrinkling slightly over his shoulders. I made the mistake of pointing out the imperfection to him and was consequently rewarded with a threatening growl.

"What's got you lookin' all smart today?" I asked.

"Are you implyin' I don't look smart all the other days?" he said aggressively, getting all up in my face. Seth then backed off with a playful grin. "Just kiddin' bro."

I made a face at him and pushed him into the lockers. "Just because you're a walking seven-foot tall stick doesn't mean you can intimidate me." I struck a masculine pose, showing off my muscles much like Emmett had done earlier. "For all you know I could be Superman in disguise."

"Huh. You don't look much like a Clark Kent. The nerdy-look ain't workin' on ya," Seth smirked as he studied my features. "And for the record, I am not a 'seven-foot tall stick'. I am a taller-than-the-average-seventeen-year-old human being."

"Thanks," I responded sarcastically. "I _so_ needed to know that."

Seth laughed and sauntered into the Meteorology classroom. He strode purposefully to Rosalie's seat and sat in it, acting as if it were his normal seat. He threw me a wicked glance and waited patiently for Rosalie, obviously wanting to cause trouble with her.

I winced, already anticipating the could-be violent scene that was sure to happen once Rosalie entered the classroom. I wasn't exactly sure as to why he wanted to provoke her, but hey, if that was his prerogative, then so be it.

"Paws. _Out_," Rosalie snarled as soon as she entered the classroom some twenty seconds later. She immediately stalked over to Seth and used his tie as a leash to drag him out of her chair and onto the carpet. "What's wrong with your own seat?"

Seth shrugged from where he lay sprawled on the floor. "Don't like it."

Blondie huffed and opened her mouth to send one of her stinging retorts his way but I didn't hear a word she said because:

"I believe this is my seat."

I took my time turning to my left where I knew an irritated Isabella Cullen stood. "I don't think so," I responded pleasantly.

"Of course you wouldn't," Bella sneered. "Everyone knows you don't think."

I gave her a long, cool look. "Why, thank you for pointing out the obvious, Izzy-Bella."

Her golden eyes sparked embers and she hissed: "Don't call me that."

"I'll call you whatever I want," I responded as I mentally conjured a million (immature) rude names in my mind.

Bella scowled at me. "Masen, _out_."

I stayed firmly seated. I wasn't one to take orders from demanding, conceited people like her. "No." My voice came out louder and harsher than I intended. "It's not my fault you were suspiciously absent for the past couple of days. This has been my seat since the first day of school, and it is going to stay my seat. So, if you would kindly move along now, Izzy-Bella..."

An awkward silence followed my words. I noticed everybody had their eyes trained on me and Bella. I cleared my throat uncomfortably and shot Seth a desperate glance.

"Am I vampire?" Seth blurted out randomly. His comment was met with silence. "No? Then why is everybody keepin' me in the dark?"

"No one is tryin' to hide anythin' from ya, Seth," the little blonde girl named Jane scoffed at him. "Stop embarrassin' yourself."

He winced at her verbal lash and from that scary, intense glare she was giving him. It looked as if she was trying to mentally torture him or something. "I didn't know my momma went to school with me," Seth grumbled. I noticed he refrained from making eye contact with Jane which seemed kind of odd to me.

Ms. Hale flicked her attention down to Seth. "I have no idea what you're talking about nor do I want to know." She sighed. "Everyone, just...forget the fifteen minutes of wasted time since class started. I'll take role in a few moments. Bear with me, 'kay?"

The class nodded and started whispering and giggling in their groups of friends. I shot Seth an apologetic glance for calling attention to him. Then, I subtly looked at that little blonde girl named Jane. She had stood up from her desk and was lounged casually near me, chatting easily with Bella. Jane was someone not to mess with: her words stung like a viper and were used to inflict lasting pain. Unsurprisingly, she reminded me of Bella. Both seemed like thorns on two pretty roses.

"Jane?" Ms. Hale called, staring at her computer screen as she took role.

"Here," the blonde answered before whispering something conspiratorially to Bella and then shooting a smirk down at Seth.

I frowned at the two of them. They were just like the Ice Queen cheer captain Tanya at my old school. Strikingly beautiful yet devastatingly hurtful. Somewhere in the back of mind I had a subconscious thought that connected Tanya and Bella and Jane. Perhaps Tanya had mentioned something about Bella or vice versa? Hadn't Bella said that she knew Tanya or something? Absently, I heard Ms. Hale continue on with role. I wasn't paying much attention until:

"Alison? Alison Cullen?"

"Not here," Bella said tersely and turned to glare at me as if it were my fault her pixie-like sister was absent. I held up hands in the universal _Whoa, there cowgirl, calm down_ gesture as a response to her less-than-amicable look.

Ms. Hale glanced up and peered at Bella. "And you are...?"

"Isabella Cullen."

"Hello, Isabella. Welcome to Meteorology. Take a seat, dear. I'm glad you _finally_ showed up."

I smirked satisfactorily. There was an adult who could stand up to Bella! Bella narrowed her eyes at Ms. Hale but did not openly acknowledge Ms. Hale's snarky last comment.

In a tight voice, Bella said: "My seat seems to be...occupied."

Ms. Hale wrinkled her brow in a puzzled way. "There are three vacant seats, Isabella."

Bella didn't acknowledge Ms. Hale's last comment. She stayed stationary, glowering down at me from her standing position, and continued her staring contest with me, Jane momentarily forgotten behind her.

"This is _my_ seat," Bella growled. "Get _out_, Masen."

Rosalie chose that moment to stick her Sperry's-clad feet on top of my desk. "Shut up already, Cullen. It's just a seat."

"Hypocrite," Seth groused from the floor. Luckily, Blondie dismissed his comment.

I ignored the two and gave Bella my undivided attention. "It's just a _seat_," I repeated Blondie's words with an eye-roll. "Get a life, Izzy-Bella."

"Ha," she muttered darkly. I didn't know which comment she was replying to, though. However, she finally accepted her defeat in this long argument we just had and stomped over to an available seat...

...which just happened to be behind me. Great.

"I can't see the SmartBoard," Bella promptly informed me from her new location.

I half-turned in my seat and narrowed my eyes at her. "Try looking at it instead of your nails."

"How about _you_ try movin' your arrogant ego-inflated head out of my sight?" she retorted.

"Very authentic," I snorted sarcastically.

She didn't take sarcasm well. "I beg to differ. I'll have you know that I am _extremely_ creative with my comebacks."

"You're so sure of your abilities that you have to defend yourself?"

A sudden hiss came from my right. "Shut up!" Rosalie glared at me and Bella. "_Some_ of us are tryin' to learn!"

"Hypocrite," Seth griped once again from the floor at the same time as I asked her: "What exactly is so important for you to learn right now?"

Blondie gave him the middle finger in response. "Go die in a hole, Paws." She then proceeded to flick me off too, although she didn't say a word in my direction.

Jane chose that moment to interrupt with one of her disparaging remarks. "Well, these spats between ya'll are interestin' and everythin', but I would appreciate it if ya'll would keep it down some. I'd like to get as much of an 'education' as I possibly can," she drawled out. She leaned against some random kid's desk and proceeded to inspect her nails not unlike Bella had a few moments ago. Must be some preppy girly-girl thing.

"Stay out of this, _Jane_," Rosalie sneered.

With a smirk, Jane flipped her hair and said in a decidedly bored voice: "Oh, I'd be careful of how you treat me, Rosie. Wouldn't want your momma to get an earful of you bein' the less-than-perfect daughter."

Blondie gnashed her teeth together and growled in warning. Shit. If Blondie let loose her inner feral animal...I didn't want to finish that thought.

Ms. Hale glanced over in our direction and frowned subtly, obviously feeling the tension we all radiated. Immediately the five of us straightened out our acts and played the innocent teacher's pet position for a few moments until her attention was distracted by the lesson again.

From behind me, a pencil jabbed hard between my shoulder blades. "Just so you know, I hate you," Bella told me in a low, menacing voice.

"The feeling's mutual," I flashed back.

Blondie leaned across the aisle and told us in a low, intense voice: "I hate both of you. Now _shut up_."

Bella snarled back at Blondie but Blondie tuned out the not-so-nice words flying out of Bella's mouth. My God. Those two girls were a handful and were getting on my last nerve. I needed to get away from all these girl hormones that were jacking up my stress levels. Glancing down at my only male friend in this class, I noticed that Seth had fallen asleep on the floor. I envied his ability to ignore the world for a few precious moments.

Suddenly the classroom door banged open, startling Seth from his sleeping stupor. A troubled-looking Emmett strode in and sought out Ms. Hale but kept a wary eye on his sister. The sister in question had stiffened behind me. I could no longer hear her breathe.

"Bella is needed immediately in the principal's office," Emmett murmured to Ms. Hale.

"Yes, of course," Ms. Hale replied, sounding flustered. She understood the urgency of the situation, though, and scanned the room quickly for Bella and another person to accompany Bella down to the office. Her sky-blue eyes landed on me and gave me a short nod. "Edward, go with Isabella."

I complied without protest and got out of my seat. Bella, on the other hand, remained frozen in her desk, her expression alarmed.

"It's just the principal," I said lightly, hoping to ease the situation. "And it's only the first week of school. Something tells me that you're not about to get expelled or anything."

Bella's gaze focused in on me and her facial features hardened. Shit. I shouldn't have opened my mouth. "I'm not worried about _that_," she said with an attitude. "I'm more...concerned as to why Emmett is here."

I shrugged, thinking the answer was obvious — after all, he was the one to deliver the message that Bella was needed in the principal's — but I didn't say anything, fearful that Bella might bite my head off. Again.

Both of us joined Emmett by the door. As soon as we entered the hallway and were a good distance away from any open classroom doors, Emmett turned to Bella and said agitatedly: "Brace yourself, Bella." His warning echoed ominously through the empty hall. Bella's breathing hitched and I felt her come to a halt next to me.

"Alice is missing."

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><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Vampire joke told by Seth was originally used in the Clique series book: Invasion of the Boy Snatchers by Lisi Harrison. I do not take credit for it.<strong>**

**People who review this chapter will get a teaser for the next chapter!**


	6. Chapter Six

**Author's Note: Happy V-day to you people who celebrated! Or, if you're like me, you're wishing that Today Was A Fairytale but knowing it will never happen. But hey! I don't think Bella and Edward will be forever alone today! *wink, wink***

**Disclaimer: Twilight is not mine. Don't believe anyone if they tell you otherwise.  
><strong>

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><p>Chapter Six:<p>

Silence. Complete and utter silence. The hallway was unmoving, frozen. Just like the girl who had gone deathly still beside me.

I glanced worriedly at Bella. She seemed to be in some phase of denial — she stared unblinkingly at her brother, those gold eyes wide with shock...and something like reluctant acceptance?

Before I could contemplate the thoughts that were no doubt racing through her mind, she awkwardly stumbled into me. I stiffened in response, but I caught her nonetheless. After the standard _What the hell_? thought stopped paralyzing my body, I wrapped my arms around Bella and held onto her tight. My excuse was that since her life falling apart around her, she needed someone to be strong and reliable for her. That was where I supposedly came into the picture.

Bella hesitated in my arms. An awkward moment passed between us. That was when I realized with much chagrin that she had meant to fall into Emmett's arms. Oh well. Too late to try to redo the past. I cleared my throat uncomfortably but I made no move to release my hold on her.

It felt as if I was in some slow-motion type of movie. Bella's actions were somewhat delayed and forced — including the spine-tingling, hair-raising tearless sobs she let out a few moments after Emmett had broken the news.

"Shh...," I tried to calm her.

I knew it was a futile attempt to try to placate her, but I didn't stop because...well, my brain hurt trying to figure out what was going on between me and the gorgeous, confused girl I held. I'd figure everything out later. Right now, I would just continue whispering words of comfort that we both knew had no effect on her.

"Be strong for Alice, Izzy-Bella. Everything will be all right...people will be able to find your sister," I told her in what I hoped to be a reassuring voice.

As I soothed Bella, I shot a slightly puzzled glance over to Emmett. He knew Bella better than I did. Wasn't he supposed to be the one patting her back, the one trying to erase the pain for her? Not that I was complaining. It was...nice, I guess, holding her close to me. I cradled her head close to my heart, hoping that the steady noise would bring her an air of peace. But, if I was gifted with the ability to read body language, the stiffness of her posture suggested that my heartbeat was anything but relaxing.

"I can't breathe!" Bella immediately gasped out. She struggled vainly, trying to pull out of my arms, and bruising me in the process. "Let me go!"

Instantaneously I dropped my arms partly in shock that her petite frame was capable of harming me and partly because I couldn't not fulfill her demands. She dashed towards her brother, a person who could easily comfort her. I tried to mask my disappointment at her rejection, but I had a feeling I wasn't doing the best job at cloaking my feelings.

Bella let out a pitiful whimper and turned into Emmett's waiting embrace. "Make it stop, Em. I can't deal with this."

My heart ached for Bella. Her normal cool aloofness was slowly breaking, exposing her as a human who actually had feelings. Her self-control was still intact though — I had yet to see her shed a tear.

Her brother gave me a helpless look. "I can't," he muttered in a tortured voice. "You know as well as I do that she doesn't wanna be found."

Bella squeezed her eyes shut and burrowed her face deeper in Emmett's shirt. "I want her back!" she wailed. "Dammit, Jasper!"

My eyebrows furrowed together confusedly. Who was Jasper? And what did he have to do with Alice?

"Tone it down, Bells," Emmett warned in a low voice but the deep tenor notes he spoke with carried easily across the hallway to where I stood. "You're reactin' too strongly. I gave you fair-enough warnin' as did Alice. And your shield should've prevented ya from actin' like a weak human..."

Too many thoughts that didn't make sense were racing through my mind. What did Emmett mean? Was Alice's mysterious disappearance...planned? How else would Bella and Emmett know that she was going to leave? My head hurt thinking about too many impossible _what if_ scenarios.

"Here," Emmett said and passed Bella back into my arms. She glared at him and tried to escape my grasp, but there wasn't as much strength in her attempts anymore. It was as if someone had drained all of the energy out of her. "I'm gonna go tell the principal about our little...delay."

"You're leavin' me _alone_ with him?" she screeched.

He winked at me. "Yeah." The next sentence was clearly addressed to me: "If you hurt my sister in any way...you are gonna be a dead man, Masen."

I saluted him, secretly relishing the fact that he trusted me enough to take care of Bella. "Yessir."

Emmett promptly left, sending another mischievous smile at his sister to which she responded with a grimace.

My captive eyed me warily through narrowed eyes and struggled vainly to escape my arms again. "I know you are quite possibly enjoying yourself, Masen, but I for one do not enjoy bein' smothered," Bella sneered at me. Oddly, it did not have the same poisonous bite it normally did.

"Hello? Masen? I am perfectly capable of standin' on my own two feet-"

Her melodic, annoyingly insistent voice brought me back to the present.

"Isabella," I interrupted her tirade in an exasperated voice. "As a friend asking another, could you do me an immense favor and shut the hell up? I prefer my ears to function properly for the rest of my life and that won't happen if you continually yell at me every five minutes."

Bella stared at me blankly. I sighed. Obviously her brain was still in shock and wasn't up to its normal processing speed yet.

"Friends?" Bella finally managed to choke out.

I frowned. "Yes." Was that all she had heard of my twenty-one second speech? "I would assume that the term 'acquaintances' did not fit appropriately to the delicate situation we seemed to have entangled ourselves in."

"Would you quit speakin' as if you stepped out of a Jane Austen novel?" Bella complained.

"Why?" I grinned. "Does it make you...uncomfortable?"

Her eyes darkened with something I liked to call desire. Unfortunately, her voice made it clear that the look in her eyes was anything but.

"Contrarily," she murmured, her honey-colored eyes playing a blatantly obvious seductive game with mine, but her words oozed annoyance and exasperation. "It makes you sound...insecure. Cliché. Heart-breakingly unromantic. And," Bella continued with an indescribable look on her face. "It is _extremely_ distractin'." She wrapped her hands gently around my neck and placed me under her spell with those hypnotic golden eyes. "It just doesn't fit your style, Mr. Masen."

I had a style? Since when? Unfortunately for me, Bella sensed my weakness and took the opportunity to extract herself away from me.

"It's been nice talkin' with ya, friend," she said with a flirty smile. "If Emmett asks, tell him I'll be home. I don't like grievin' my sister's disappearance in public." Bella waved gaily and then skipped on out of the hallway and out the front doors of the school.

She was way too upbeat for someone who had just been told that their sister had randomly gone missing.

I stood frozen in place, the events not registering fully in my brain. Everything seemed so...supernatural when it came to Bella. Her reactions and her responses to everything that had just happened were definitely not what a normal person would say or do. And this insane attraction I felt towards her...what was it exactly?

_You're just infatuated, _I told myself firmly. _That's all. Don't even think that it's something more than it really is. If you do, you're just digging your own grave. Never in a hundred years would a girl like Bella ever fall for you._

The only problem was that no matter how hard I tried to deny it, I was most definitely developing a crush on the sharp-tongued, insanely infuriating, breath-takingly beautiful girl who had just abandoned me as soon as she could.

I tried to slow my racing heartbeat down. I replayed the days' events back in my mind. Yes, it was only this morning that I was going to get Rosalie to help me with the prank on Bella. And yes, Bella and I had declared our mutual hate for each other only a mere twenty-six minutes ago.

Nothing made sense with Bella. One minute she was this total bitch that even Rosalie could not compare with, and the next she was this sweet, picture-perfect Southern Belle, all manners and smiles. But through it all, she was still Isabella Cullen.

My heart rate involuntarily quickened as I remembered her arms around my neck, her cool breath lightly dancing across the surface of my skin. But she always pulled away after a few moments. Was it just me or did she seem to have this mental barrier placed all around her? It was almost as if it were a shield...

A shield. Emmett had mentioned a shield. Were they connected?

Guh. My brain was throbbing and over-stressed from everything that had happened today. I would analyze all the confusing details tonight when perhaps my brain felt a bit more relaxed.

But first I had to figure out the secret to her personality. Something just wasn't...right.

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><p><strong>Author's Note: Here's the detail-oriented, too-many-commas-and-hyphens-not-a-lot-of-dialogue writing style I typically use in my stories! You haven't encountered this persona since the Prologue, have you? *grins foolishly* Ah, well, just do your thing peoples and review or like or favourite or...you get the picture.<strong>

**And wow, Edward finally developed some eyes and started to notice his surroundings! That emotional change within him during the entire the chapter was kinda overwhelming but necessary. But he is rather repetitive with his thoughts. Hm.**

**Oh! I almost forgot! ...Well, no, I actually didn't but whatever, that's not important. CATCHING THE SUN: BELLA'S POV IS NOW PUBLISHED! She asked me very nicely to publish her take on the events in Fallen Star, so all that detailed Bella-y stuff is on that document. (And it just might include a few details that Edward forgot to mention here... ;))**

**So yeah. That's that. See ya next update! ~wouldtheywriteasongforyou~**


	7. Chapter Seven

**Disclaimer: Twilight? Mine? Ha, you're hilarious.  
><strong>

**WARNING~SHORT CHAPTER AHEAD! But with short chapters and lots of reviews come faster updates. Just thought I'd let you know ;)**

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><p><strong><em>When you're dreaming with a broken heart...waking up is the hardest part. <em>~John Mayer**

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><p>Chapter Seven:<p>

**Thursday night**

_I feel…disconnected from my body somehow. I'm there but I'm not. It's an odd feeling, one that does not make any sort of sense and is too confusing for me to try to make it logical and practical for my brain to comprehend. _

_Images drift in and out of my line of sight, unfocused as if I'm underwater. The only problem is I cannot figure out how to refocus the images. I close my eyes to stop the blurry projections from giving me an unwelcomed headache. A familiar comforting darkness envelops me._

_Problem solved._

_I float through the senseless darkness for awhile. Unfortunately, as soon as my body relaxes into a blob that closely resembles a jellyfish's structure, a strange sort of buzzing fills my ears. It's as if my ears are suddenly home to hundreds of bees. Not the most pleasurable experience, to say in the least._

_The continuous drone is monotonous and repetitive. It bothers me that I am unable to hear anything besides the constant buzz. I clap my hands over my ears in a childish attempt to stop the noise._

_Consequently, and to my greatest relief, I can no longer hear the noise. With much appreciation for the cliché and over-used phrase, I tell myself_: Silence is golden.

_I am starting get somewhat, if not __seriously, concerned. What is wrong with all my senses? First I go blind, then deaf. Last time I checked, I wasn't Helen Keller._

_Suddenly my mind goes numb. Is this punishment for making that tactless comment about Helen Keller?_

_My brain is still paralyzed, preventing me from forming any sort of coherent thought. I can still feel pain, though._

_And. I. Feel. A. Lot. Of. That._

_It starts off like a mild sort of throb in my chest. Nothing too serious. I dismiss the ache as heartburn._

_But then it freaking _INTENSIFIES._ Heat somehow is added to this sick, twisted sort of torture. My heart feels like it has been left out in the Sahara Desert for a countless number of hours. The heat stays trapped in my chest, but the burn creeps ever-so slowly up into my throat._

_Great. Now I feel as if my throat has been replaced with a bunch of sandpaper._

_Without warning, my brain switches back into its functioning mode and starts processing thoughts again. Every nerve chooses that moment to reactivate and alert my brain on my body's current condition._

_Which feels like shit, by the way._

_All of my nerves are spazzing out and tingling uncontrollably. Most of them burn out after seconds or hours of vigorous painful shocks to my brain and body. I am left feeling numb and surprisingly cold._

_I'm still paralyzed and freaking out. What the hell is up with my body?_

_My heart rate begins to pick up until __it's__ thrumming along faster than a hummingbird's. This __cannot__ be good. My heart is trying to outpace the burn of the fire that threatens to consume me. It seems to be a lost cause — no matter what, my heart will overheat from the frightening amount of energy it is exerting and it will stop beating sooner or later. Most likely soon._

_Just before I can embrace my inevitable death, an angelic-looking face cuts through the empty void of darkness. Impeccable fair skin, beautiful mesmerizing tawny-colored eyes, long mahogany tresses…it can only be her. Bella._

_My heart sighs and stutters, its normal reaction whenever I think about her. Effectively distracted, it loses the battle with the scorching fire. My heart skips a couple of beats before permanently falling silent._

_I am now officially dead. Does the afterlife follow immediately afterwards? The only way to know is to find out for myself._

_I open my eyes._

_._

.

I bolt upright in my bed. My heart is thudding loud and clear. I breathe a sigh in relief to hear its beat, although it seems a little faster and stronger than my normal heart rate. It was probably caused by the fear and the extreme vividness of that dream.

I smile as I acknowledge my existence. I am most undoubtedly alive, and for that I can smile and laugh and be human.

Death scares me. Death brings thoughts of afterlife and judgment and belief of a higher power and such into my mind. Thoughts that I really do not want to think about or consider. Thoughts that should only be dealt and confronted when I am actually dead and no longer breathing or living or my heart doesn't beat.

Not when I'm hypothetically dead or dying in a freaking dream. I shudder as a memory of that painful death is recreated in my mind's eye.

But I am alive. I am not part of that terrifying dream anymore. Would that mean it was a nightmare? It felt all so surreal, yet despite the out-of-body feeling that accompanied the dream, it seemed as if it really _had_ happened to me.

I took a few deep calming breaths. Not a nightmare. Just a dream. Perhaps it wasn't one of my favourites or one that I wished to repeat but I had to admit that it wasn't completely terrifying or scary or bad.

After all, Bella was in it.

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><p><strong>Author's Note: I like rambling, adjectives, and reviews.<strong>


	8. Chapter Eight

**Author's Note: Haha, no, this is not an April Fool's Day joke. Yes, I really did update. Shocking, right? And my trip to London this Spring Break was *the* best. I adore British accents.  
><strong>

**My rambling, improper grammatical self would like to express its sincerest, biggest, happiest, specialest, don't-correct-my-bad-spelling, lovliest, beautifulest, smiley-ful, um...I-ran-out-of-words-that-will-properly-describe-this-so-I-should-stop-now... **

**Long story short: THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU to ellaryne for reviewing each and every chapter. Love it.**

**Disclaimer: Still not mine. And I truly do not mean to offend anyone who is of Native American or Eskimo heritage. What I have written is just guys talking smack. My opinions are not reflected in Jacob's and Edward's words.  
><strong>

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><p>Chapter Eight:<p>

**Friday**

Not even a full week of school has gone by and I already moan and groan with dread when confronted with thoughts about the rest of the school year. I practically had to drag myself out of my bed and into my Ford to get to Ponder. Scratch that. I _do_ drag myself all the way to school.

I arrived a bit late to school and consequently was not able to find a vacant spot in the parking lot. I circled around a bit, hunting for a gap where I could squeeze my monster of a truck into, but strangely, the lot was filled. Huh. I didn't realise that so many people actually attended Ponder High School. Where were they all hiding in a town as small as Dish, Texas?

I heard a toot of a horn, and my attention was immediately drawn to it. There, standing next to a drool-worthy red BMW convertible three rows over, was Rosalie Hale. She waved me over, signalling towards the open spot next to her car. I waved back in thanks and zoomed over to steal the spot before someone else did.

I was about four cars away when some punk gunned the engine of his Harley-Davidson motorcycle and claimed the spot before I could.

"Damn it!" I growled in frustration.

Rosalie apparently shared my sentiments. She glared at the kid who had claimed my should-have-been parking spot. She raised her eyebrow and put on her scary-bitch face. I cowered behind my steering wheel even though the dangerous look on her face wasn't aimed at me.

She stomped over to the motorbike driver. "Hey, asshole. That parking space wasn't meant for you. You might wanna consider on findin' some other spot before I find a place in the school Dumpster for your bike."

"Huh?" the driver ever-so-eloquently responded. He got off his bike and removed his helmet. "Did ya say somethin' to me, cowgirl?"

Surprisingly, his tone wasn't defensive or challenging. Rather, the guy sounded pretty confused. I smirked and continued to watch the scene unfold before me. It was pretty nice to have Rosalie on my side. She was a bitch to put up with, but she was like that with everybody, or so it seemed.

The guy had short, close-cropped dark hair that looked like a grown-out version of a buzz cut. His tan skin contrasted with his blindingly white teeth that he was currently using to try to charm his way into Blondie's good graces.

Oh, if only the stranger knew what he was getting into.

"Bitch, please," Rosalie said in her typical sassy and haughty way with a hand on her hip. "This cowgirl has a name, you know."

Stranger Danger shot a dose of Blondie's sarcasm back at her. "Shit-head, please," he retorted. "My name just so happens to not be 'bitch'."

Shit just got serious, ya'll.

Rosalie looked like a firecracker about to explode. She had a short fuse and somehow that ignorant outsider happened to have poured gasoline and thrown a burning match on her temper. Not exactly the best combination, if you know what I mean.

It was time for an intervention. I laid on my horn for a good thirty seconds and beeped at the two stubborn people impatiently. I rolled down the driver's window and leaned out so I could yell at them. "Hey, man!" I said in way of greeting to the biker. "Would you mind moving your bike?"

The guy stared at me. An awkward silence followed my words. Obviously I don't have the same sort of power to infuriate strangers like Rosalie can.

"Why?" he questioned after what seemed like eternity.

"Because there are special spots by the front marked specially for motorbikes," I told him in what I considered to be a rather convincing logical argument. "You don't need to park in a perfectly good car-sized parking space."

The guy nods. "You're right," he agreed. "I don't _need_ to park here. But I will." He gave me and Rosalie a mocking salute. "You two need to learn to get over yourselves. Honestly." And with that, the asshat left the parking lot and did not proceed to move his motorcycle an inch.

"Men," Rosalie said with clear distaste. "Always havin' to prove somethin' to the rest of the world." She glanced over at me as if realising that I was the same gender she was generalising about. "Oh, don't give me that look, Edward. You're as bad as the rest of them."

I laughed. "Touché, Blondie. I promise to never admit that you're wrong to your face. But, um, you wouldn't know how to hotwire a motorbike, would you?"

Rosalie shook her head condescendingly. "Don't you ever dare doubt me, either, Edward Cullen," she warned before heading over to the motorbike in question. She studied it, her brow furrowed and lip between her teeth. All of the sudden, her face lit up and she grinned as she tinkered around with the bike's machinery. Within minutes, she had the engine roaring to life.

"I'll take that as a 'yes' to the hotwiring question," I muttered to myself.

Rosalie straddled the bike and revved the engine. "Edward! Where do you think I should steer this off to?"

I contemplated her question for a minute. The guy had been an ass, but he didn't deserve for his bike to be vandalised—one look at the glossy exterior and the near-perfect condition of the vehicle and anyone with half a brain would know that his bike was his prized possession. But then again, the guy had been an ass...

"Why don't you just take it?" I suggested with a shrug. "Claim it as yours for awhile. Just get it out of the parking space so I can park. The tardy bell is about to ring any moment."

Rosalie grinned. "You want me to steal the bike? My, Edward, aren't you turning into a little rebel." She laughed as she caught sight of the middle finger I sent her way. "I'm not taking the Harley. It's beautiful and I would love to keep it, but that's going a little too far, you know? I'm not _that_ much of a cold, heartless bitch."

"Could've fooled me," I said under my breath.

"I heard that!" she shouted back over the motorbike's roaring engine. She must have supernatural hearing or something. I could barely hear myself speak let alone think with that noisy moving contraption that Rosalie had hotwired and was now moving out of the parking space so I could park my Ford. I don't know where she planned to drive it—probably to the school dumpsters in the other parking lot—but I wasn't really paying attention because I was finally revelling in the success that I had managed to park this monster truck of mine. That whole escapade must have taken me at least fifteen minutes to complete.

Finally, after all that parking drama and a trip down to the tardy sweep table because coming to class three seconds late was tardy according to Mr Dye's rulebook, I took a seat in Chemistry and started the boring process of what school considered education.

.

**Lunch**

In the Commons, the nickname for the high school's cafeteria, I had the misfortune of literally running into that punk kid who had given me all that parking trouble this morning. It all started with a dropped lunch tray that was supposedly 'accidental'.

I stared at the limp spaghetti noodles that slithered their way down my grey hoodie. Questionable mystery meat sauce decorated my jacket in a big splatter stain. It looked like any other lunch accident, but I knew better. The gloating smirk on the asshole's face that had caused this mishap had told me this was anything but chance.

"Hey, Alaska," the guy laughed. "I don't know if the Eskimos taught you anythin' 'bout table manners, but in civilised societies, you typically try to aim your food into your mouth and not your shirt."

I quirked an eyebrow at him. "Haha, very funny. But I think you got your racial slur wrong. Correct me if I'm not telling the truth, but I believe that you are a closer relative to Eskimos than I am if you're a direct descendant from Native Americans...?"

The tan skin on the Native American guy's face turned a deep, sunburned red. Obviously he was a stranger to the concept of someone else retorting a smarter comeback to one of his child-like insults.

"Oh, and dude," I said back to the guy. "Don't take fashion design or anything because you evidently cannot tell the difference between a hoodie and a shirt." I slipped off the stained jacket with the offending lunch spilled all over it and tossed it at the guy. "That is a hoodie," I said slowly and clearly as if I was talking to an infant. I then pointed to my clean and unsullied T-shirt. "This is a shirt. Get it right, bro."

Suddenly, four other guys flocked up to the person I was insulting. They were all ripped and heavily-muscled as if they only consumed protein shakes and competed seriously on the school's wrestling team.

"Howdy, Jake," one of them with dark hair, deep-set eyes, and browned skin greeted the guy who had run into me with his lunch tray. All five guys facing off to me looked like they were relatives of one another.

_Or part of the same Native American tribe_, I thought with a snicker. Alright, what I had just thought wasn't really that funny, but the rush of adrenaline and fear of these guys was making me lose my wits.

"Who'd you piss off today?" another asked this so-called Jake who was still seething at my impertinent remark that I had made at least five minutes ago.

"The Alaskan newbie," Jake said through gritted teeth. His hands were clenched to his sides, and all his muscles bulged out. His tense stance effectively showed me that he was itching for a fight.

Actually, they all looked ready to beat the crap out of me. All five eyed me like I was a piece of meat.

"You called us over here to fight this scrawny little guy?" the biggest one laughed. "C'mon, Jake. You coulda taken him down with one well-placed right hook."

Jake gnashed his teeth together and bounced on the balls of his feet as if he were a boxer ready to fight an opponent. He opened his mouth to respond to his buddy, but someone else spoke before he could.

"Really, Edward?" a feminine voice asked from behind me, clearly annoyed. "I knew you were stupid, but this is beyond insane."

Suddenly, everyone's eyes in the Commons were drawn to the girl who had spoken. It grew deathly quiet, but Bella Cullen pretended not to notice.

She stepped delicately into my line of sight, her hands placed sassily on her hips. It only took one disapproving glance of hers aimed in my direction to make me feel like a guilty child who had gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"What on earth made you think that you could take on Jacob and his little posse?" she said scathingly.

And there goes my self-confidence and manly pride. I opened my mouth to defend myself, but she threw me one disparaging glare and I quickly snapped my mouth shut.

"And ya'll are so very stupid to think that you could mess with Edward," she told the five muscled guys who were twice her size and could easily beat her into a pulp if they so desired. It was to my surprise that they heeded her words and backed off a little bit.

However, Jacob bristled at that comment but he didn't say anything besides a low growl.

Hearing that, Bella turned towards the instigator of the whole situation. She gave Jacob her full attention, her eyebrow cocked challengingly at him. "Say it. Seven years have passed — surely you have _somethin'_ to say to my face by now, Jake."

He hesitated, his eyes flicking over at me and then to the rest of the school that was watching the showdown intently. "Not in front of an audience," he answered in a tightly controlled voice.

Bella tossed her hair over one shoulder, a preppy-girl habit of hers. "Since when did that limit your choice of words?"

"Don't provoke me, Bells. You may live to regret it," Jacob responded with one of his wolfish-grins before he backed away and disappeared with his friends into the hallways of Ponder.

"Very funny!" she called back to him, though I didn't know how she expected him to hear her.

A few moments of awkward silence followed his departure before the Commons slowly shifted back into the mundane murmurings of high school drama and gossip. I stared at Bella for a moment, wondering what had made her disrupt the fight that had been brewing between me and Jacob's posse. She studiously avoided my gaze.

"So?" I said after awhile, figuring that staring at her for hours would still yield me answerless. "Would you mind explaining what the hell just happened?"

She mumbled back: "You really shouldn't get caught up in the social workings of Ponder, Edward. You might not like what you find."

I crossed my arms and responded, "Well, it seems to be that I am part of it no matter what I want. So maybe you should just focus on your role in this messed up place and explain why you've got this bipolar personality where you hate me and ignore me and then get all up in my business and act like you care about me the next day."

Bella kept her eyes downcast and said in a flat, monotone voice: "Just forget about me, okay, Edward? Forget about me, my family, Jessica, Jacob, Rosalie, Mr Dye...just be a nobody here. Your life would be so much easier. Try to move back to Alaska if you value your life. Don't get involved with the social hierarchy at Ponder. And please, don't live here in Dish."

"What?" I said back blankly. None of what she had just said made any sense to me.

Golden eyes flickered up and met mine. I was instantly hypnotised.

"You get stuck here," she said. "The life gets sucked right out of you. Leave while you have the chance, Edward."

She still made no sense. And she was starting to creep me out. Feeling as if I needed to get back on a more real and understandable level with her, I quickly changed the subject and said: "So how is that Alice search party working out for you?"

All the sarcastic and profound aspects to Bella immediately shut down. A blank mask decorated her face, leaving me with a stranger.

"That's not your business," an emotionless monotone informed me.

"And why is that?" I retorted. Just when I thought I had touched on a relatable subject, she closed off herself from me.

No answer.

I stared at her, trying to figure out what was going on inside that mind of hers. I must have been focusing a little too hard because I felt like I got some sort of sense of her thoughts.

_Jasper...a honey-blonde boy who looked too young to have those haunted eyes...a sense of finality, abandonment...a deserted, ramshackle house in the distance...and Alice...sparkling, vibrant, bright like the sun...together they were...happier than ever...separated...unthinkable..._

Then the Bella I knew was back and she was pushing me away from her and she was shaking her head _no, what did you just do?_ But I can't ask her anything or speak a word because I blinked and she's raced out of the Commons as if her life had depended on her escape.

Just another mystery to add to her confusing character.

.

**Friday Afternoon**

As soon as the dismissal bell rang, I flew out of the school, across the parking lot, and into the comforting, air-conditioned, isolated cab of my truck. Finally this week was over. And I was now able to look forward to two whole days of no old and senile teachers, no creepy parking-spot stealers like Jacob, no crazy confusing social rules that dictated Ponder High School, no Blondie, no Cullens, and thank you world for the fact that I did not have to stress over this Bella situation for an entire weekend.

Life was really good to me sometimes.

.

.

**Saturday Morning**

For the entire week, Charlee and I had interacted as little as possible. I'd wake up, get ready for school, and leave the house while she slept in, and when I came home she'd be gone off working or doing who-knows-what. I usually got the groceries and made TV dinners—heaven forbid that I would be blessed with a mother who knew how to cook and would actually _care_ about her child—and on the off-chance that I wasn't feeling lazy, I would make a pretty decent home-cooked meal for myself. Never had we ever shared a sit-down meal together, and I'm quite positive that if we did, it would be an awkward and silent affair.

Living with Charlee was pretty much like living with a ghost. The only proof that I had that my mother existed and was inhibiting the house with me was the occasional brief note or the tell-tale shopping bags that led from the garage to her bedroom door like a trail of breadcrumbs.

I was pretty surprised when we ultimately did coexist in the same room for more than five minutes at a given time. I sat in the kitchen that Saturday morning, eating my cereal contemplatively as I thought over how rather odd it was that we were finally sort-of acting like we were acknowledging one another's presence. Suddenly, Charlee's voice broke the slightly awkward and tense silence.

"I'm thinking of jetting off to Fiji with some friends for a couple of weeks," Charlee announced randomly from the living room as she channel surfed. "D'you think you can manage without me?"

I really wanted to say that yes, I could manage without her, I did quite all right for the past seventeen years of my life, thank you very much, but I wasn't allowed to give her smart-ass remarks anymore. Such a shame. Plenty smart-assed comments were going to waste these days since I wasn't allowed to speak them out loud.

"Edward, when I speak to you I expect an answer," she said with more authority than I thought she deserved.

"I heard you," I acknowledged her without answering her previous question concerning her random trip to Fiji.

Charlee sighed and switched the TV off before turning to face me from where I was crunching on my Cheerios at the kitchen table. "Look. I know I haven't been the ideal mother during your childhood but your shitty attitude towards me needs to stop right now, Edward." With that, she got up off the couch, and rubbed her temples furiously as if I had somehow given her the worst migraine in the world. She refrained from looking in my direction at all as she stomped over to her bedroom and slammed the door. I guess that we were back to ignoring each other again.

I glared at the closed door leading to Charlee's bedroom. How many times during my residence here in Dish would we both acknowledge the fact that my moving into the house was the worst idea ever?

Maybe I should consider Bella's advice of moving back to Alaska. I was considerably more welcome there than I ever imagined I could be here in Texas.

.

**Saturday night**

_"Edward...," Dream Bella sighed softly in my mind._

_Forget about my happiness yesterday when I said that I was glad I wouldn't be thinking about this Bella situation anymore. Apparently my subconscious decided that creating more complicated Bella problems in my life was just what I needed. Obviously my subconscious was not the smartest thing in the world._

_I hadn't gone a single night without seeing Bella in my dreams. It was slightly creepy how I kept seeking her out in my sleep like I was some deprived addict who needed their daily dose of Bella._

_This Bella dream was just a repeat of last night's. I knew how it would end but it didn't stop me from mimicking the same actions I had made the night before. _

_I reached out to touch her, to make sure she was real. To make sure she would stay._

_But once again, she disappeared before I could grasp her._

.

I woke up alone. But I noticed how my window curtain fluttered in the summer night breeze; odd, considering that I never opened my window.

Maybe I wasn't as alone as I thought I was.

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><p><strong>Author's Note: A review would make me ramble a paragraph for you (:<br>Psst! Would you mind leaving me an early birthday present in the form of reviews? My birthday (the same day as Kristen Stewart's!) is in a couple of days!  
><strong>


	9. Chapter Nine

**Author's Note: Hi, it's me. Judging from the major decline in reviews and story alerts from ya'll, I'm guessing that you're getting bored with the story. (2 reviews per chapter causes a writer to become really depressed and very un-motivated to write.) I don't know how to spark your interest again, so I guess this will be my last post for awhile. It makes me sad to say that, but I don't see the point in writing to a non-existent/not-interested audience.**

**I would love it if you would prove me wrong and show me how much you like this story with a review (or lots of reviews) and what-not. But it's cool if you don't review or anything. I understand completely.**

**Enjoy this chapter. It's not the final chapter in the story, but it'll be the last for awhile. My apologies to those who do love this story to vampire death. Try reading _Catching the Sun_ in the meantime. The confusing bits in _Fallen Star_ might finally make sense.**

**Disclaimer: Still not mine and won't be for a very long time.**

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><p><strong>Sunday morning<strong>

I woke up at the crack of dawn, courtesy to the nearest neighbors a mile down the road who apparently happened to own a cockle-dooing-do rooster. That rooster had never cawed at dawn before; perhaps it only did it on Sunday when people were essentially trying to sleep in. Why couldn't that rooster make some noise at dawn during the weekdays when I actually needed to get up early?

Anyways. Annoyance aside, I was in a pretty good mood. It was probably the lack of sleep or what-not that made me feel alert and refreshed since I was never one to be a morning person. After a few loud yawns and stretches, I blinked my bleary eyes open and saw my open window.

Oh, yeah. That open window.

Since I was living in the middle of nowhere, I figured that the wind had blown the shutters open or whatever wind does to windows. First of all, said window was located on the second-story. No human in their right mind would bother climbing some eight-feet just to open a window and then leave without stealing, molesting, or taking anything from a room. Because, you know, not doing any of the above was just plain weird. And second of all, I was still a little nobody in this town. Who went around messing with the minds of people who had no reputation yet?

Strange was what this place was.

Anyways, I headed downstairs for some breakfast so I could start thinking a little more rationally and seriously. After some peanut-butter-on-toast and a glass of milk, I was ready to go take a drive around this little country-bumpkin town and see what I could find and make sense of. (Besides creepy non-existent people who broke into windows and then left without doing anything, because of course that made perfect sense.)

Before I drove off into town, I left a vague note on the kitchen counter telling Charlee that I would be out for awhile. Mainly it was out of habit – Charlee didn't seem like the type of person to care about curfews or knowing someone's whereabouts at all times. Dad was the parent who enforced that rule more. She was the one who left him without a trace, after all.

I quickly abandoned that train of thought before it could lead onto more dangerous, painful memories. Memories that taunted me with the fact that I should have stayed in Alaska with Dad despite him being a love-sick cradle-robber.

Out of the house I went so I could ignore any thoughts associated to my past life. That was another Edward who lived that live; the Edward present now in the town of Dish was – unfortunately – the son of Charlee and completely different from the cogent and logical person that the people up in Denali knew. Here, Edward was spontaneous and daring and hung out with people with strange gold eyes. Here, Edward spoke in third-person and was feeling a little freaked out about that.

Here, Edward was given the chance to find out who he truly was.

I snapped out of the third-person monologue I was having with myself and concentrated on my driving. Not that there was much traffic for me to pay attention to.

My Ford came to a rolling stop at an empty intersection. I was sorely tempted to just cruise on through, but that wasn't something my lawyer of a father would condemn.

_Nobody is looking_, my inner devil whispered temptingly in my right ear. _You know there are no red traffic-light cameras here._

I bit my lip indecisively. Sure, this was not a big decision to make in the grand scheme of life – honestly, just follow all traffic laws and everything will turn out just fine – but this decision was not only about deliberately running a red light.

It was a metaphorical choice concerning whether I should obey that glaring red stop light or should I continue on that unpaved road without braking.

I gunned the pedal and disregarded any cautious, warning signs in my head. Here I come, ready or not.

And then, in the middle of what used to be an empty four-way intersection two seconds ago, my truck collided into something.

.

.

When something serious occurs, everything falls out of whack. Time slows down, your brain works at the speed of light...all those cliché things happen. And every single one of those clichés is true.

Were that red light and the stop sign posted off in the wheat field to the right of it foreshadowing the car accident I was about to be in? Was it purely coincidental that my brain registered those two warning signs right before the crash?

Oh, wait. That was a stupid question. Of course I should have paid attention to that red light. There was a reason why I passed Driver's Ed.

My used-to-be-brand-new Ford was tipped on its left side in a ditch, effectively blocking me from getting out of the truck on the driver's side. Shattered glass was everywhere and the metallic scent of blood – my blood, I thought with a cringe – permeated the air.

My windshield had been totalled by the airbags. All the passenger-side windows had been cracked and smashed to smithereens. I was cut up and it felt as if some glass splinters had managed to pierce my lungs. Well, that was probably an over-reaction. I was still breathing albeit it felt as if my lungs were on fire.

As I lay still, paralyzed with shock, my brain decided to relive the past few seconds of the accident. It was one thing to know that death was coming with fierce, unstoppable speed; it was another thing to watch it happen again and again after the original event had occured.

I wondered how the other driver was faring. I tried to get up and get out of the Ford, but all I managed to do was dig a few more shards of glass deeper into my skin.

"Hello?" someone, presumably the other driver, knocked on the roof of the truck. The person inhaled sharply. "Is that...blood?"

"I'm...stuck," I said embarrassedly, my voice ragged and weak. Damn, that took way too much effort to talk. "And there's glass everywhere. I can't...reach my phone. Could you call 911...please?"

Dark spots threatened to take over my vision. They must have because the next thing I register hearing was the other driver saying something that made no sense because they were in the middle of a sentence.

"...the fuck, Edward! Running a red light...who the hell do you think you are? You practically killed yourself!" the person was screaming at me.

Realizing and identifying who the other driver was put some fury and adrenaline into my system. "Damn it, Bella! You'll be the death of me, I swear you will. Why haven't you called an ambulance?"

"Stop talking!" she screeched. "You're just making yourself bleed worse!"

The black spots wanted to invade my sight again. Before I succumbed to their advances, I noticed that Bella had lost her Southern accent and that she sounded genuinely strained and worried.

_Impossible_, I scoffed as I floated along in this dark haze. _Bella never loses her cool_. Besides that time in the hallway when she found out her sister was missing. That incident didn't count.

I drifted farther and farther away from Earth, away from Bella, but somehow in that numbing empty black void, I felt a hand reach in and pluck me out of that chasm and back into the world of the breathing. Back into the world of pain.

Three guesses as to who decided that I needed to rejoin the living human population.

I was not a happy camper. Clearly and precisely in my mind I wished her a long, slow, and tortuous death for making me go through this pain-filled hell.

But then again, I was in the middle of wishing I was dead – without all of this suffering, of course – because this entire ordeal was getting to be too much to bear. Death shouldn't be this uncomfortable.

I was such an asshole for running a red light. It was a trivial, pointless act of rebellion that ended up in such a big dramatic mess.

_Finally_, I heard the wailing sirens of an ambulance. Cool hands lifted me up and to some unknown destination that smelled strongly of antiseptic. Soft hair smelling of strawberries tickled my face.

"Drunk driver?" somebody inquired in a strong, authoritative voice.

"No," Bella answered for me. Her voice was firm and expected no argument.

That strawberry-smelling hair was suddenly the only thing my senses could register. Bella's voice, soft and private for only me to hear, whispered: "Edward, I think you need stitches. I'm not going to let you bleed to death while these dummies try to figure out if you were intoxicated or not."

_Your hair is making me intoxicated_, I thought.

"...trust me enough to take you to the nearest hospital? I know one of the doctor's there – you'll be in and out in no time," she said. I missed the first half of her sentence because I was too busy inhaling that lovely scent of strawberries.

I tried to answer her that yes, I did trust her, but my mouth refused to cooperate. I tried to mentally project my thoughts to her. Apparently it worked because she stiffened slightly before moving her hair up and down in acknowledgment.

"Try to stop bleedin'. Blood doesn't creep me out but it's kinda makin' me lose my focus," Bella said, her voice controlled and neutral. That cute Southern accent of hers was back.

"Not...my fault," I managed to gasp out.

She sighed, a cool sweet-smelling gush of air clouding my senses. It complemented the strawberry smell of her hair quite well.

"Yes, it is," she said softly, but I heard the faint smile in her voice. "You're nothing but a human after all."

Even though Bella didn't speak her next thought, I heard it quite clearly:

_For now._

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><p><strong>Author's Note: Yes, I used some quotes from the Twilight series in this chapter. "It was one thing…watch it happen." (Bella Cullen, <em>Breaking Dawn,<em> Chapter 37 pg. 708) "Damn it Bella…swear you will." (Edward, _Twilight_, Chapter 17 pg. 363) "Death shouldn't be this uncomfortable." (Bella, _Twilight_, Chapter 24 pg. 459) "…I think you need stitches…bleed to death." (Jacob Black, _New Moon,_ Chapter 8 pg.189) "…nothing but a human after all." (Bella, _New Moon, _Chapter 12 pg. 294)**

**Thank you to MyDarkTwistedWorld; Team Edward Rules All; Guard2012; molley1014; SaveMeRob; and TeamVampires for sticking with me for all these crazy, insane, rambling chapters. 11/28/2011 – 5/03/2012. I also give many thanks to lightningkid333 for being an amazing and constant reviewer.**

**And to the rest of you: I'll see you people sometime in the not-so-far future. The exact date of the next chapter of _Fallen Star_ is undecided, but I promise it will come before 2012 is over. I hope to see all of ya'll – if not more of you – the next time I update.**

****So that's that. Stay Beautiful, ya'll. I was Enchanted to meet you.** Forever and Always ~wouldtheywriteasongforyou**

**PS: Even though Edward's mind will be closed off for awhile, go take a peek into Bella's:  
><em>Catching the Sun<em>, a snarky story full of Bella's point-of-view on what happened in _Fallen Star_ along with a bit of sideline vampire drama.  
>Or read a totally different Twilight story centred around Rosamett:<br>_Frozen Fire_ which covers 110% of Rosalie's attitude, an irresistible Southern human Emmett, and an insufferably annoying Edward.  
>Or try reading a completely different story about Edward and Bella and read my other Twilight fic:<br>_Love You, Forever_, a story told in flashbacks and a heart-breakingly romantic letter from Edward to Bella.  
>Read and review any of these stories pretty-please-with-a-cherry-on-top!<strong>


	10. Chapter Ten

Dear Reader,

Hey, I'm back and am busily renovating this story! A lot has happened over the summer, and before school starts, I would really like to make Fallen Star a lot better. I wrote this back when I was twelve and I have a feeling that my writing reflects that. (It is a bit shocking for me to re-read Fallen Star because I have always viewed myself as a pretty good writer. I guess not, after all...)

Anyways. Fallen Star is my first published fanfic and I can clearly see that it needs a lot of improvement. If you have read the original document, I would please encourage you to take a look at the new version and comment/review with whatever thoughts float through your mind.

However, once I am done cleaning up all the imperfections, I have to warn you that this story will no longer be my top priority. It will always be special to me, but I am focusing most of my time and energy to my Percy Jackson fanfic _Drops of Jupiter_ that will be posted in December. I would greatly appreciate if you took the time to read and review that story when I publish it.

So I wouldn't say that Fallen Star is on hiatus anymore, but it will be updated a couple times a month instead of every week like it used to be. However, if I feel as if my audience has decreased or is uninterested, I might stop posting for awhile again.

Thank you everyone for sticking with me for so long. It really means a lot to me.

You readers and reviewers are the best thing that's ever been Mine.  
>Forever and Always ~wouldtheywriteasongforyou<p>

7 August 2012

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><p><strong>Author's Note: After days of consolidating the chapters and rewriting scenes and adding more detail, I AM FINALLY DONE EDITING ALL THE OLD STUFF! Yay (: So, if you are a reader who has seen this story in its messy stages (1128/2011-11/28/2012), I would greatly appreciate if you would re-read the beginning chapters of the story so this new chapter will make more sense to you (and don't forget to review along the way!).**

**I can't wait to Begin Again, ya'll (: Are you RED-dy? LOL~wouldtheywriteasongforyou  
>28 November 2012<br>**

**PS: Happy one-year everybody! I can't believe how fast time flies. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for everything you have done so far whether it be alerting, favourite-ing, recommending, reviewing Fallen Star, or telling me that I am one of your favourite authors. I don't think you'll ever realise just how much all your love and support means to me (:  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: Even as much as I edit, there will always be someone whose writing is more perfect than mine. In this case, it's Stephenie Meyer for creating _Twilight _that started this big, whole, crazy hot mess of my story, _Fallen Star_.**

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><p>Chapter Ten:<p>

**Sunday Afternoon**

"Unh," was the first intelligent thing I said when I woke. My eyes flew open and were immediately blinded by the glaring light of a lamp that shone directly in my face. "Gah," was the next word out of my impressive vocabulary.

Once the colourful spots faded out of my vision, my eyes focused on my surroundings. I was pretty sure that I had never been here before. I was propped up in some tiny bed that looked like a crib — there were grey metal railings on the side for God's sake. What, did Charlee suddenly have an urge to re-enact my baby years that she was not a part of?

"Edward? You're awake?" a familiar bell-like soprano voice asked. Except, the voice wasn't how I remembered; there was too much concern colouring her tone. Typically the girl who spoke in this voice yelled at me.

"Jesus Christ," she grumbled. "I _told_ Carlisle that he didn't administer a strong enough dosage—"

"Bella?" I rasped out, my voice all scratchy and thick from disuse.

"What?" she snapped back. Ah, that was the tone of voice I knew.

I can't see her. I tried to move my neck so I could, but for some reason my head wasn't turning.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Edward?" she said sharply.

"Looking for you," I muttered. I gave up on moving my head. "Where am I?"

"The hospital. Where else would you be after you got severely injured in a car accident?"

Wait, what?

"I was in an accident?"

There was a short pause. Then: "Dammit, Edward, I swear to God, please tell me you're just messing around with me!"

"Bella, what happened? Why am I here?"

Suddenly, she came into my line of sight. She looked as perfect as always. Except there was this troublesome little crease between her eyebrows. And she was biting down on her lip, an action that belied that she was nervous or worried. In this case, I thought it safe to say that she was worried.

"You...you don't remember?" she said hesitantly.

Something wasn't right. There were too many hazy and incomplete details. I couldn't make sense of anything right now and that bothered me. I tried to shake my head 'no' in response to Bella's question, but of course my head refused to comply. "Bella?"

Her golden eyes widened and an expression of fear or panic flitted across her face. "Oh my God," she breathed out. "Carlisle!"

That was another piece that didn't fit into my confusing jigsaw puzzle of questions. "Who's Carlisle?"

She just shook her head at me. "I have to go."

"No, wait—!" I protested, but she had already left the hospital room. There was nothing to document her ever being in my hospital room besides my already fading memories of her troubled face.

"I wouldn't worry too much about her," a blonde, pale stranger said as he walked through the doorway. He wore a pristine white lab coat and a stethoscope hung around his neck. In his rubber-gloved hands was a clipboard filled with papers. I spied my name on a couple of them. "My daughter has a tendency to over-react." He gave me a warm smile. "Hello, Edward. My name is Carlisle Cullen. I'm your doctor for the moment."

"For the moment? What does that mean?" I asked Dr. Cullen, Bella's father.

Dr. Cullen glanced down at the clipboard again and did not look me in the eye when he said, "Nothing you need to concern yourself with, Edward. Just know that I am here to help you."

I was unsatisfied with that answer but I knew that Dr. Cullen would say no more on the topic.

"Do you remember what happened to land you in the hospital?" Dr. Cullen asked.

"Um...," I stalled, racking my brain for any sort of connection to the supposed car accident. "No?"

"I want clear, definite answers, Edward," Dr. Cullen gently reprimanded me. "Do you remember what happened?"

What was this, a therapy session? I stared at the doctor for a moment before I said in a firmer voice: "No, I do not recall anything."

"Hmm," was all he said back as he made some notes on his clipboard.

It was silent in the room as Dr. Cullen continued to scribble away on his papers. My mind wandered and I find myself staring at the bland, dull beige coloured walls and the drab, neutral-toned, linoleum-tiled floor. I sighed. The lack of artistic expression combined with the typical antiseptic smell of a hospital triggered all of my gag reflexes.

"I'm truly sorry that this place is rather...inhospitable at the moment," Dr. Cullen said without looking up from his notes.

I quirked a half-smile at his attempt at a pun. "Um, yeah."

A few more awkward pauses. Then: "Since you are seventeen and a minor, your parent or guardian has been notified of your current predicament. However, that notification was sent out over three hours ago and has not been replied to. Do you have any idea who the hospital can contact to help you with your situation?"

I stared blankly at the doctor. The information that Charlee had not showed up at the hospital was still processing in my brain. I never thought us as close or anything, but I was her child and surely she would feel sympathy for me when I was stuck in a hospital.

I rubbed my temples as I spoke to Dr Cullen. "Charlee Masen is my mother and closest relative. She is notorious for not answering her phone whenever someone calls her." I took in a deep breath and knew I would regret what I was about to say, but I forged on anyways. "My father lives up in Denali, Alaska. Contact him only if this is a serious emergency."

Dr Cullen paused in his writing and glanced up at me. The look on his face let me know that my situation qualified as a 'serious emergency'. He slowly adjusted his glasses and peered at me over them. "Edward," he said. "You are gravely injured and were in a catastrophic accident. There is no way you can classify your situation as anything but serious."

"Could you tell me a bit more about what happened? I seem to be missing the event in my memory."

He nodded slowly in consent. "On one condition," he interjected.

I arched an eyebrow to let him know that I was listening.

"I question you about the accident rather than telling you. I need to know how extensive and severe your amnesia is," the doctor stated.

"Sure," I responded casually. "But I already told you—I remember nothing."

"Doesn't hurt to try," Dr Cullen said lightly. He organised and shuffled his papers around a bit before setting them down. Then he settled himself down in a roll-y chair and started his inquisition. Judging from his posture, I realised that he planned to interrogate me for a very long time.

"So," he began. The place-holder word slid easily off his tongue just as I imagined all of his thorough questions would. "What's your name?"

I scoffed at the easy question. "Edward."

"Edward what?"

Well, then. It appeared to be that somebody wanted to be fastidious about the details. "Edward Anthony Masen."

"Who do you live with?"

"Charlee Masen. She's my mother."

"How old are you, Edward?"

"Seventeen."

"And your birthday?"

"June 20."

"What day did your accident occur?"

"Sunday," I responded promptly. I furrowed my brow. "I think today is Sunday too. Yeah...the accident occurred today. This morning."

He nodded. I was surprised to see that he was not taking any notes or anything. Dr Cullen seemed to be the type of person who would like to record everything.

"What type of accident did you have?"

"Automobile," I said. "But I only know that because Bella told me."

Dr Cullen's eyebrows subtly drew together by a millimetre, but he didn't comment on my last sentence. "Where were you when the accident occurred?"

I racked my brains but nothing came to mind. "I don't know, sir. Dish, Texas is all I can come up with. Nothing more specific than that."

The crease grew infinitesimally more noticeable. "Alright-y, then. Where do you go to school?"

"Cantwell High School."

"And where is that?"

"Denali, Alaska." I hesitated, briefly realising that I was no longer living in Alaska and attending that school. However, I could not seem to come up with the name of the current high school I was enrolled at.

"Do you remember if you were driving the vehicle you just described when you were in the accident?"

I scrunched my forehead up. I remembered driving a pick-up, so I assumed it was the same car I had just detailed. "Yeah."

"'Yeah' you remember or 'yeah' that was the same vehicle?"

Dr Cullen's insistence on exact detail was starting to wear on my nerves. "I drove the Chevy when I crashed earlier today," I clarified.

"Edward, do you know where you are?"

I made a _duh _face. "I'm at the hospital." Honestly, based on these simple questions, the doctor must think I had lost my mind in the accident or something.

Dr Cullen opened his mouth but then closed it before any words came out. I stared at him confusedly. He just shook his head and then gave me a long, calculated look as if I were an enigma he couldn't decipher or something.

"So...did I pass?" I asked him, shifting uncomfortably under his scrutinising gaze.

He frowned. "I'm not done yet." Dr Cullen tapped his chin thoughtfully and tilted his head slightly to the right. "Hmm. I wonder..." His voice trailed off and he quickly glanced over at his notes.

As the doctor pondered over his musings, I laid back in the hospital cot and let out a huff and puff of frustrated breath. I hated hospitals with an intense dislike. It was always so boring and drab and mind-dulling to be stuck in one. And hospitals were almost always associated with pain. I wasn't sadistic or anything, so I think that it's safe to say that pain really was not my sort of thing. Stupid hospitals that always make me feel trapped and lost and captured and claustrophobic.

"Edward. Hey, Edward. Don't zone out on me, son. I need you to focus." The doctor's voice cuts into my thoughts, successfully scattering them away from my brain.

"Hmm?" I said, completely disoriented. "Yeah, I'm focused."

"Can you tell me what specific places on your body hurt?"

I nod. Or at least, I try to. "Well, I think it's obvious that I can't move my neck at all," I said bitterly.

"Mhmm, yes, your spinal cord managed to take a direct hit in the accident. Nothing a little therapy won't cure. What else?"

Judging from his blasé attitude, my spinal cord injury really wasn't something to stress over. I concentrated on finding out the precise areas where my body was harmed even though all my pain censors were deluging my brain with a million messages that my body ached.

I took a deep breath and was immediately hit with the feeling like I'd been sawed in half, set on fire, run over by a thousand angry bulls, and stung by a million tiny bees. "Jesus Christ," I swore when the pain subsided slightly and I could speak.

"You had a couple of fractured ribs and a slightly punctured left lung. Everything has already been fixed but I guess I need to up your dosage on the morphine," Dr Cullen said.

Dimly, in the back of my mind, I remembered Bella saying that Carlisle hadn't administered enough of a dosage to me. Things were starting to make sense, and puzzle pieces were falling into their corresponding places now.

"What else—"

A loud knock resonated through the room, effectively interrupting Dr Cullen's seemingly endless round of questioning.

"One moment please." Dr Cullen excused himself and left the room, shutting the door on his way out. He didn't get very far: I could hear his and Bella's voices discussing me from the other side of the door.

"How bad are his injuries?" her soprano voice softly whispered.

The doctor muttered for a couple of moments in response. He was quickly interrupted by Bella's impatience and annoyance.

"Carlisle, I need to know the truth. Don't you dare gloss over anything," she hissed out.

He sighed. Some throat clearing and then: "A mild case of amnesia due to the trauma. Minor psychological instability already present before the accident, but the accident triggered a severe decline in his emotional state. Slight paralysis of the neck—he had some spinal cord damage. Probably won't regain full mobility of his legs. A few broken ribs, slightly punctured left lung but nothing too severe—"

"_Carlisle_," Bella warned Dr Cullen.

"Sorry," Dr Cullen apologised. "But, Bella, you know that it wasn't your fault and there is nothing you can do—"

"Contrary to what the rumours around this hospital are, _I_ crashed into _him_," Bella interjected. "_I _should be the one with all of these incurable injuries yet you know that no matter what happened, I would be the one to walk away unharmed. Carlisle," she said before pausing and taking in a deep breath. "Carlisle, I'm going to fix this. I'm going to change what happened. I am going to change him."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: All of you reviewers are so so nice! Thank you so much for being amazing (: I would have permanently abandoned the story ages ago if it weren't for ya'll.<br>**

**Please please please read _Catching the Sun_. I know most of you do not like my Bella (I don't blame ya'll) but you have to go listen to her side of the story. So much more will be revealed. All you Jasper fanatics...yeah, I'm talking to ya'll. And remember, Bella is the vampire. She notices more of the supernatural things than our oblivious human Edward. So if you want to know why all of this stuff seems to moving at a crazy and confusing pace, well, go read Bella's POV. She might have all the answers to who Jasper, Mr Dye, Rosalie, Tanya, and Jessica really are, what's going to happen next, why this is all happening, and how Edward's past intertwines with her own.  
><strong>

**Back to Fallen Star. Bunches and honey bunches of thanks go to Cola320. Her sweet, encouraging words about Fallen Star always put a smile on my face (: And she called me a really great and wonderful author *blush* Awh, thanks, beautiful!  
><strong>

**Anyone else want to be flawlessly perfect and review? Rockstar reviewers get shout-outs! ;)  
><strong>

**PS: Thanks for telling me what's on your mind, all you anonymous reviewers! (Yes, I just started allowing guest reviews on my stories) Ya'll are awesome and I really wish I knew who you were so I could thank you personally.  
><strong>


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Disclaimer: I don't dream about vampires. I guess I'm not Bella or Stephenie Meyer, then.**

* * *

><p>Chapter Eleven:<p>

**Saturday Morning**

Days passed. Weeks passed. Eventually, a whole month went by. It was a whole month of pure boredom that Dr Cullen forced me to lay invalid in the hospital. Nothing exciting ever happened in this little town, and my car accident stayed the centre of attention for much longer than I had intended.

My injuries were slowly healing but the pain never seemed to subside. Dr Cullen constantly reassured me that my recovery was going at the typical rate for the average human even though I complained that all the surgeries and treatment were doing absolutely nothing in my favour.

Despite the monotonous routine and bland daily life in this town, the hospital quickly became the social hub because of my accident. Surprisingly there was a current stream of visitors clamouring to wish me a speedy recovery. People I didn't even know or never had heard of were standing by my bed and offering their condolences. Flowers (which I thought to be too girly and immediately had them removed as soon as the giver had left the premises) and balloons and cards created a mini-mountain in the corner. Teenagers I vaguely remembered seeing in my classes came by my hospital room and confided me in on the Ponder gossip that I had missed in my absence. Not that I cared, of course. Apparently autumn sports like cross country and football and volleyball had their tryouts. I guess my athletic career was over before I could start it.

Blondie and Sam hung out for a couple days a week with me, even going as far as ditching their classes to spend some time in my hospital room. We had fun, teasing and arguing and stuffing our faces with pizza while watching the limited cable provided by the hospital TV. However, nobody ventured the fact that we were being pretty pathetic. I mean, seriously. We were 'partying' in a _hospital_. That's just sad.

Mike and Tyler even 'visited' me and were arrogant pricks as usual. They both claimed that it was karma coming back to bite me in the ass because I had a 'fucking weird habit of standing in the middle of open doors'. I told them that it wasn't my fault they were too fat or didn't have enough common sense brain cells to try to go around me. They did not like my helpful advice very much.

Bella was still acting weird around me, and the few times she did come into my hospital room, she avoided as much contact with me as possible. Yesterday she brought Jane along with her, and let me tell you, those two are insanely freaky when they are together. Jane looked like she wished my monster truck had killed me while Bella continued to ignore me altogether. I had never been more relieved in my life than when the two exited the room.

The Cullen that I could tolerate, Emmett, even stopped by to see me although it was during one of my chill times with Blondie and Sam. The sexual tension in the room between Emmett and Blondie was stifling. Seriously, those two needed to go at it like bunnies or something before they combusted of lust or something hormonal like that. I don't know how they could stand being in each other's presence when the atmosphere was practically crackling and electrified between them. It was nearly painful just being in their vicinity. Thank God the crazy and intense moment was ruined when Jessica and Angela walked in.

The worst visitor out of all of them was definitely Charlee's. She lectured and reprimanded me about teenage rebellion and horrible judgment and how I could have died and blahblahblah. I didn't really appreciate nor need her opinion about the whole situation. I was alive and well, thank you very much. At least, 'well' by my standards. Thankfully Dad was not part of this whole parent-tirade thing. Charlee did enough bullshit-talking for the two of them. She frequented the hospital enough to look like she was a responsible mother who cared about her son but not enough that she had to put up with me and my sarcastic remarks. The whole arrangement was fine by me. I didn't really care to be subjected to her charming presence much longer than I had to.

Right now, though, I was all alone in the sparsely decorated and generic hospital room. The TV was droning on about something or other but I, of course, was not listening to it. Balloons were reaching their expiration date and deflating quietly over in the corner. If the fake plants near the doorway were real, they would have wilted from the depressing and negative ambiance by now. It was a Saturday morning which meant that if I were not an invalid waiting for absolutely nothing, I could be attempting to have something that resembled a social life. But then again, I seemed to have forgotten that the hospital was The Place To Be nowadays. Oh, look, I'm a trend-setter. Whoop-de-doo.

I was completely and undeniably bored. Dr Cullen had prescribed physical therapy for me to regain some muscle strength but all it did was make me utterly exhausted. Today was an off-day so I could rest and recover. That is, so my _body_ could rest and recover. My mind was perfectly lucid and, in every respect, bored to death. I tried counting the dots on the ceiling but all that managed to do was make me cross-eyed, dizzy, and lose track of the dots that seemed to float around in a mumbo-jumbo mess. My next tactic was to attempt to sort through my memories and the highlights of my life in Alaska, but that only made me nostalgic and dejected. Finally, I conceded defeat when I resorted to attempt the homework my fellow classmates had ever-so-thoughtfully left me. That was when I knew I had hit rock bottom. Honestly, who does their homework when they are entirely healthy let alone when they are wounded?

A knock on the door pulled me out of my dull thoughts. Perhaps whoever was about to enter would make my life a bit more enjoyable and less lacklustre. All of my hopes were instantly dashed when the door opened to reveal Dr Cullen and his daughter. Those two would certainly cure my boredom but only at the expense of my comfort and pleasure. Sigh.

Bella immediately flitted into the room and proceeded to make herself at home as if she were the queen of this place. I watched in gross fascination as she checked all my vitals like she were one of the nurses hired here at the hospital. Then Bella proceeded to straighten up my mountain of Get-Well wishes before she invaded my personal space once more as she took my blood pressure and my temperature _all without my permission_.

"Bella, dear, give Edward some breathing space," Dr Cullen chided her gently as he washed his hands in the sink. After he dried his hands off with a paper towel, he came over to the side of my bed and verified the recordings that Bella had just written down about my internal body functions. "Hmm. You're running a bit of a fever, and your heartbeat is a little fast." He withdrew a stethoscope and motioned for Bella to step back. She did so but she was still hovering which surprisingly irked me.

Dr Cullen plugged in the earpieces into either side of his head and gently placed the metal of the medical instrument onto my chest. I hissed quietly at the unwelcomed feel of the cool metal on my slightly over-heated skin.

"Breathe," Dr Cullen instructed. I breathed. He moved the stethoscope. I breathed again.

"How is physical therapy working for you?" he asked in an attempt at small talk. Or maybe he really was interested since he was my doctor and all. I don't know Dr Cullen's motives for asking other than he seemed to be trying to distract me from the tedious and repetitive forced breathing I was doing while he examined me with his stethoscope.

"It hurts like a bitch," I answered truthfully.

Bella smirked. "Good. That means it is workin'."

"Who asked you?" I snapped back.

She huffed and rolled her eyes but made no further comment.

Dr Cullen finally put away his stethoscope. "You seem to be breathing fine. Is your lungs or ribs giving you any trouble? Are you finding it hard to take in air or does your chest feel constricted at times?"

I shrugged. "I dunno."

He pursed his lips but did not pressure me harder on the topic. "How about your sensory nerves? Can you feel your legs?" Without warning, Dr Cullen poked my left thigh. "Did you feel that?"

"Yes."

He poked me a little harder and longer. "And that?"

"Yes."

"Tell me when the pain becomes unbearable."

I waited for a few moments and then: "Ow." The doctor kept prodding me. "I said, 'Ow!'" Dr Cullen gave me one last none-too-gentle jab on the leg but it was too much for my sensitive nerves. "OW! Holy shit, OW!"

"Good," Dr Cullen said with a slight smile. "The accident has not caused you to be affected by paralysis in the legs. I'll have to tell your Phys Therapist, Alec, to include walking and leg strength exercises into your daily routine."

I made a face. "Here's a thought: how about you _don't_ do that?" Alec was pretty brutal when I was just lifting arm weights—I could only imagine how much the workout will intensify once I have to add my legs into the exercises.

"You'd rather stay in a wheelchair for forever?" Bella piped in.

"Again," I said. "Who asked you?"

She gave me the stink-eye and stuck her tongue out in a childish, juvenile gesture. Wow. She sure was mature. I ignored Bella and focused back on Dr Cullen. He was examining some X-Rays of my back and spinal cord.

"The surgery seems to have able to repair you good as new," Dr Cullen stated. "But to be safe, I want to see if you have gained neck mobility. Could you turn your head to face Bella, please?"

I knew I could do it—after all, Blondie's and Emmett's encounter with each other nearly gave me whiplash from glancing between the two the entire damn time they had been in the room—but for some strange reason my head wasn't cooperating. It was as if I had just woken up from the accident and I could not will my head to turn.

"Edward?" Bella said worriedly.

"I'm trying!" I bit out through gritted teeth. I felt the tendons in my neck start to pop out as I intensified my struggle to move my head. The blood started to pound in my head and black dots swam across my face, making me lose my focus and go blurry-eyed.

"Whoa!" Bella proclaimed and dashed to my bedside, looking like a blur herself. "Edward, stop!"

I immediately ceased my efforts. I felt limp, weak, and useless. "My neck won't oblige," I stated bitterly.

Dr Cullen frowned. "Hmm. Your spinal cord is fully repaired so you should be able to..." He tapped his finger against his lip thoughtfully. "Bella, dear, check the fluid levels that are being injected into Edward. It might be a mineral imbalance or a loss of electrolytes and dehydration that could possibly be hindering his—" Dr Cullen cut himself off mid-sentence. "Could you perhaps try once more, Edward?"

I gnashed my teeth together and muttered out: "Yes." Then I poured out all my animosity and hatred for the situation I was in and the accident that had happened and my complete loathing for hospitals and girls who made no sense whatsoever and body parts that refused to function properly and dysfunctional families and parents who abandoned their children and I was just so, so angry at the world that I must have done something right because my neck turned to the right. I saw Bella checking my stats once more and her pretty brown eyes widen in shock and I saw her gasp in fear a little too late because then I realised that no, I had done something wrong for my neck had emitted a strange little _pop_ and suddenly my vision went dark and I couldn't see or hear anything.

I was all alone in the darkness.

But my sense of touch hadn't been impaired and after a few content moments of floating along in this black pit of nothingness, a sudden tongue of flame came piercing the skin right in the place where the pulse point in my neck should be.

And then I feel my dream—the one I had long, long ago; the one I had almost dismissed as a nightmare but revised to be just a dream because Bella was in it—I feel this _dream_ become reality.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: The dream aforementioned is the one in Chapter Seven.<br>**


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Author's Note: The beginning might sound a bit familiar ;) And the word-tense changes from past to present in this chapter. Yes, it is intentional.  
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**Cheers to _Alicewrotethis_ for being a rockstar and reviewing. Glad to hear that you understand what I was implying last chapter!  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: I'm not a sparkly vampire. Stephenie Meyer doesn't know that I exist.  
>Lyrics of Coldplay, The Fray, Michael Jackson, Katy Perry, and P!nk are in this chapter. Cheers to you if you know which songs are referenced. Of course I don't own them. Rather silly of you to ask, isn't it?<br>**

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><p>Chapter Twelve:<p>

_I feel...disconnected from my body somehow. I'm there but I'm not. It is an odd feeling, one that separates my mind and soul from my body. I don't feel whole but I also don't feel broken. Mainly I just feel numb and senseless. For now._

_Images drift in and out of my line of sight, unfocused as if I am underwater. My eyes strain in an attempt to comprehend what I am seeing. Vague shapes and blotches of colour scatter across my line of vision. I think I see a little toddler with reddish-copper hair wobbling around unsteadily to a giant birthday cake with two candles. Then I see something that sort of resembles a black bicycle that looks like the one I got for Christmas when I was five. Fuzzy pictures of first-day-of-school outfits and friends and smiles pass by in rapid succession. A couple of times, I think I spy somebody that has Sam's tan skin and his messy black hair. Objects that are golden-coloured and appear to be trophies for stellar piano playing are awarded to a lanky kid at his piano recitals. There is a lot of snow in the backgrounds of these pictures. I think I even see huskies that look just like my dogsled team in Alaska. And then it hits me: my life is literally flashing in front of me. This can only mean that I am near death right now._

_I close my eyes to stop the blurry projections from giving me an unwelcomed headache. A familiar comforting darkness envelops me. I am hoping to delay the inevitable for as long as I can. I don't want to die. Not here, not now. Not after seeing all the happiest memories of all my seventeen years. Not once I see how wonderful life really is._

_I float shapelessly through the comatose darkness for awhile. The reminiscences of my life fade away to black. I open my eyes but I can no longer see anything but the darkness. After a few moments, I start to feel as if I am going blind or that something has cut of my vision. The black chasm swallows me whole, nearly suffocating me—literally._

_Noises and panic and the pounding of blood in my ears fill my hearing. What is going on? The last thing I remember is trying to move my neck because Dr Cullen asked me to. I think I eventually did but there was a snapping sound and Bella was pretty freaked out and now here I am, terrified and alone in this weird dark place. Did I break my neck or something? I have no idea as to what is happening to me._

_Suddenly my mind goes numb. My brain is paralysed, preventing me from forming any sort of coherent thought. I can still feel pain, though._

_And. I. Feel. A. Lot. Of. That._

_It starts off like a mild sort of throb in my chest. Nothing too serious. I dismiss the ache as heartburn._

_But then it freaking _INTENSIFIES._ Heat somehow is added to this sick, twisted sort of torture. My heart feels like it has been left out in the Sahara Desert for a countless number of hours. The heat stays trapped in my chest, but the burn creeps ever-so slowly up into my throat._

_Great. Now I feel as if my throat has been replaced with a bunch of sandpaper._

_Without warning, my brain switches back into its functioning mode and starts processing thoughts again. Every nerve chooses that moment to reactivate and alert my brain on my body's current condition._

_Which feels like shit, by the way._

_All of my nerves are spazzing out and tingling uncontrollably. Most of them burn out after seconds or hours of vigorous painful shocks to my brain and body. I am left feeling numb and surprisingly cold in every way possible._

_Whatever is happening to me, I ardently hope that it stops soon. I would rather welcome death than continue on with this freaky and painful internal attack on my body._

_My heart rate begins to pick up until it's thrumming along faster than a hummingbird's. This cannot be good. My heart is trying to outpace the burn of the fire that threatens to consume me. It seems to be a lost cause — no matter what, my heart will overheat from the frightening amount of energy it is exerting and it will stop beating sooner or later. Most likely soon._

_Just before I can embrace my inevitable death, an angelic-looking face cuts through the empty void of darkness. Impeccable fair skin, beautiful mesmerizing tawny-colored eyes, long mahogany tresses…it can only be her. Bella._

_My heart sighs and stutters, its normal reaction whenever I think about her. Effectively distracted, it loses the battle with the scorching fire. My heart skips a couple of beats before permanently falling silent._

_I am now officially dead. Does the afterlife follow immediately afterwards? The only way to know is to find out for myself._

_I open my eyes._

_._

.

I bolt upright. My heart is uncomfortably silent. Crisp, cool cotton sheets blanket my legs. Every neuron in my body is oddly super-aware of my surroundings. Immediately I notice that I am no longer in the hospital. I'm pretty sure that no hospital has a grand piano in the patient's room. The glossy black Steinway faces a floor-to-ceiling window that showcases a breathtaking view of the city.

Wait. City? My mind snaps out of its piano-induced reverie and I furrow my brow in concentration. Hm. So I guess I must be dead, then. Dish certainly never had any skyscrapers or even a building over four stories now that I think about it. If I'm not in Dish, I'm certainly in Heaven.

Well, duh, I'm in heaven. There is a beautiful Steinway just within arm's reach. Dad had encouraged the musician inside of me and bought me portable instruments all throughout my childhood. Electric keyboards, guitars, a violin...I think there was even a trumpet at some point. But there was never the one instrument that I truly longed for.

The piano is singing to me, urging my fingers to dance along its pristine ivory keys. I don't hesitate for a second before I am out of the bed (I was in a bed?) and sitting on the mahogany bench. There are no sheets of music or any composition pages in sight. It's just me and the piano.

I take a deep breath and try to quell the excitement bubbling up inside of me. Energy hums in my fingertips and my ears eagerly anticipate the sound of music.

I press down on treble D and then it's like magic pouring out of my soul as I lose myself in the masterpiece of _Clair de Lune_.

.

.

I only know that time is passing based on the sun's path across the sky. Soon, the shadows start growing restless. Before I know it, the darkness has swallowed the light of day. That's when I learn that I don't need the sun to see. My eyes sift through the gloom with ease and I grin to myself.

I'm finding out that being dead isn't so bad after all.

.

.

More hours fly by. Then the hours turn into days. I love not being disturbed by simple human things like needing to use the restroom or having to eat. Breathing isn't necessary anymore although it is a bit comforting to smell and have the rhythmic inhale-exhale pattern.

My fingers falter for the first time after 81 hours on the piano. I frown and focus on playing the right notes to Pachelbel, but my fingers refuse to cooperate. Alright. I guess dead people need a break too.

But oddly, as soon as the last note I played falls quiet, a thousand other sounds crash into my mind.

_—I would have stayed up with you all night had I known how to save a life—_

_—When you love someone but it goes to waste could it be worse?—_

_—just because it burns doesn't mean you're gonna die—_

_—do you ever feel like a plastic bag?—_

_—gonna make a difference, gonna make it right—_

_—piano stopped. Can I go bother him now?—_

A fierce sort of pounding starts up in my head as the endless chatter never ceases. And then there is real pounding on the closed door to the room I am currently occupying.

"Hey," someone says as they knock quite loudly. "Open up, Dracula."

I furrow my brow in confusion. That's not my name, so why are they calling me that? And there are other dead people in Heaven? Oh, yeah. Dumb question. If the person is dead, though, why don't they do their float-y ghost business instead of being bothered by a simple doorknob?

"Who is it?" I ask in a voice that is definitely not mine. Whoa. Why didn't anyone tell me that you go through a vocal change when you're dead? Oh, yeah. Another dumb question.

_—knew I should've come up earlier. One can only suffer through so many concertos. I'd like to tell Tchaikovsky to shove it up his ass for making such looong compositions. Or better yet, maybe I'll go all Van Gogh and start Chopin my ear off!—_

"That's a little harsh, don't you think?" I say mildly to the person on the other side of the door, amused by the graphicness of their mind.

There is an awkward pause. Then: "Didn't know being called a bloodsucker bothered you. Might want to get used to it, though."

"Huh?" is my eloquent reply. I'm starting to get distracted by this smooth velvet voice I'm speaking with. I wish I could turn it off or something and go back to my regular voice.

"What do you mean, 'huh'? You asked me a question, I answered. It's what people do these days, you know—"

I cut the person off mid-rant by yanking the door to the room open. My jaw drops once I see who has been speaking to me. "Bella?" I ask incredulously. How did she die too?

"Yeah, it's me Ed-weird. Stop looking at me like that. Obviously you are out of practice with interacting with other people since you don't seem to know how to act in the presence of others. I mean, seriously. Ignoring the people who saved your life for 81 hours? Talk about harsh, much?" Bella snaps, her face scowling just as I remember it in real life.

If anything, she looks even prettier.

"Wait a minute. You said 'saved your life'," I repeat slowly, not understanding. I'm dead. Aren't I?

_—Oh dear God this guy is helpless!—_

"Hey!" I frown. "I resent that statement!"

She eyes me oddly. "What the hell are going on about? Would you rather I didn't save your sorry ass? You broke your effing neck!"

Reflexively, my hand flies to the side of neck. "Oh. Hm."

Bella huffs at me. "And this is where people usually say 'thank you'."

_—I swear, did his manners stay in Alaska or something?—_

"You could work on your manners too, you know," I snark back.

"What? I never said anything about manners."

"Did too."

"Did not."

I arch an eyebrow at her. She rolls her eyes in irritation.

"You're just as annoying as ever."

"Funny, I don't like you either," I say, arms crossed over my chest.

"Strangely, I don't find that amusing."

"Well, I'm not exactly laughing my ass off right now, am I?"

_—true, but _you're _an ass—_

"I'll just be the mature one out of the two of us and pretend that I did not hear that," I inform her, effectively calling her out on her insult.

"Once again, Edward, _what are you talking about_? I didn't say anything," Bella tells me, obviously lying since she won't meet my eyes.

"Aha!" I yell. "I call bullshit!"

She scowls. "Seriously, Edward. What's your problem?"

_—Why did I save his life again? All he's going to do is make my life even more of a living hell—_

"Gee, thanks," I say sarcastically. "And don't play dumb again, Bella. It's not nice to insult people and then pretend you don't know what they are talking about."

"Bite me," Bella says sourly.

"Eh, I'd rather not."

_—And he's gotten cockier since the transformation! I didn't think that was even possible! —_

I smirk at her. She just glowers back. Cute.

"Was there any particular reason why you came up and bothered me? What are you doing here anyways?" I ask her.

"This is my house, duh."

Defensive, much? Sorry that I did not know you could stake out your territory in Heaven.

"Oh, um, well thanks for letting me play on your piano."

"No problem."

I snicker at her obvious lie. "You sure you don't want to add me to your hate Liszt yet? I know how the Strauss is getting to you and how you're just dying to start Chopin your ear off. Or are you Hadyn the truth from me, Bella?"

Her face is completely mortified and looks even paler than normal. "Who s-said anything about chopping ears?"

I smile innocently. "Well you did, silly. What, you can't Handel it when someone comes up with wittier puns than you?"

"You and your Gotterdaemmerung wit," she recovers, with a shake off a head. Wow, that was a surprisingly good retort. I would never have ever thought to use that composer's name as a cuss word. "Seriously, though. Stop Messaien around with me, Edward. Why did you start doing all of these composer puns?"

"Uh, because you did it first?"

"Not to your face, so how would you have known?"

I shrug. "I don't know. I'm a mind-reader?"

Her jaw drops open and her eyes widen in surprise. "No way," she says, completely shocked.

"Bella, I was kidding," I say. I never imagined her to believe my smart-ass remark about being a so-called mind-reader.

_—What am I thinking right now, Edward?—_

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" I ask her irritably. "Like I told you: I'm not a mind-reader."

A smirk slowly curls its way onto her face and lounges lazily across her lips. "You just proved me right, Dracula. I didn't ask you anything out loud; I thought it in my head."

"The name's not Dracula," I tell her in a flat, unimpressed voice. "And cool, I guess. Although it gets annoying, hearing all of your insignificant little thoughts. Other people's too, for the matter. Oh, well. Heaven's got to have some drawbacks, right?"

"Heaven?" Bella eyes me strangely. "I know, I know, I'm a dead ringer for God, but really. We're in Seattle, Edward. You are not dead. Did you not hear the whole 'saved your life' spiel from earlier?"

I slowly blink as I try to process everything that she has told me. "So, wait. Let me get this straight: I'm not dead and I'm not a ghost?"

Bella rolls her golden eyes at me. "What are you talking about? You're a vampire."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: Aw, shit. I had this all typed up and then I realise that Edward's not supposed to hear Bella's thoughts. Whatever. I'm not Stephenie Meyer so I can do whatever I want with these two. Let's just say Bella was a vampire first so that screws up the whole logic of the canon books. So there.<strong>


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Author's Note: I finished my first completed multi-chapter story the other day. It's called _Superman_ (Harry Potter fic; HarryxGinny) and if ya'll want to be heroes, I think you should go check it out and review (:  
><strong>

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><p>Chapter Thirteen:<p>

Oh _fuck_. Bella's not kidding. I can see it in the way her lip curls and hear it in the sharpness of her voice as she belittles me. She is completely and utterly serious about me really being a vampire. Oh, and according to her, apparently I sparkle in the sunlight as well so I might want to avoid daylight unless I want to look like a human disco ball. Except I'm not human. That analogy sucked. Like vampires suck. I need to shut up before I crack anymore (not funny) vampire jokes.

Man, I've turned into a nightmare.

"So . . ." I drawl out as I still try to process what Bella has just told me. "A real, live vampire, huh? Are you and I the only ones? Are we going to have to save Earth before it gets exterminated by some alien race? Will we have to resort to procreation with each other to revive Earth's population?"

Bella rolls her golden eyes at me once again. I guess I'm too witty for her eyeballs. "Tell me again why I changed you?"

I shrug. "I like to think that I am still the same as my human self, you know, so I don't exactly consider myself 'changed'."

"You're hopeless," Bella announces like she finally figured me out.

I nod. "Yeah, I get that a lot."

"Shut up, Dracula." Bella stands up and makes her way to the door. "And if you want your questions answered, follow me."

"And if I don't?" I snap back at her harshly. I hate not having a choice about the decisions made in my life. Even if I'm not alive. Whatever.

She arches an eyebrow at me. We both know I'm going to follow her. Maybe even to the ends of Earth or the end of time. Either way, I'm following Bella to the end of something. I don't know if that is a good or bad thing.

I guess I'm about to find out.

.

.

We're standing in the main room of the fourth floor of this skyscraping building that Bella and her family apparently call a house. The room with the piano is on the seventh floor – Bella made me walk down three whole flights of stairs to get wherever Bella is trying to get me to go. It was awful and much too strenuous for a newborn vampire like me. Bella, of course, told me to suck it up and shut up.

I'm starting to think she doesn't like me or something.

—_Insufferable, selfish, self-absorbed little punk—_

"I can hear you," I tell her in annoyance. This mind-reading thing is turning out to be quite a pain in the ass.

"Good," she snips back, not denying her thoughts. "I'm glad _something_ gets through that thick skull of yours."

"Charming," I inform her sarcastically. "Your sunny compliments just give me the warm fuzzies inside."

"That doesn't sound normal," Bella says as we walk across the main room of the fourth floor and towards – you guessed it – another flight of stairs. "Might want to get that furry little problem of yours checked out."

I am so tempted to kick her ass and watch her tumble down the stairs. But, like the good nice vampire that I am, I refrain from committing such a juvenile act. I should get a medal or something for my amount of self-control.

"Would you mind telling me where we're going?" I ask politely.

"Yes, I would mind. Shut up," Bella retorts in her typical prickly manner. I don't even know why I bother trying to be civil with her anymore.

We continue down the obscene amount of stairs this house has. Why on earth hasn't Bella upgraded this place up to an elevator? Or at least an escalator?

"Do you have to breathe so loud?" Bella complains. "I can hardly hear myself think."

"I can't hear you think either," I respond without thinking. A startled sort of shocked silence descends upon us, and we both processed what I just said.

"Just . . . don't breathe for awhile," she orders me and turns on her heel to continue stomping down the stairs. Her mind – which had been dormant for a few moments – came whirring back to life filled with questions and turmoil. I wish she could shut it off again.

There's a tense-filled quiet that has descended upon as us we march to wherever the hell Bella is taking me. "Are you _sure_ you're not trying to kill me?" I grumble loudly. Walking around blindly has never been my forte and I feel like a lost puppy on a suicide march.

"As tempting as that may be, no, I am not trying to kill you," Bella snaps. "Were you this annoying when you were a human?"

I shrug unhelpfully. "I dunno. Was I?"

She grinds her fangs together in response. I guess that's a yes.

"Bee!" a dark blur shrieks, appearing seemingly out of nowhere. My vampire eyesight processes the quick movement and distinguishes it as a tiny little pixie of a person. Hmm. I've only met one person who's a teeny sprite like this person is, and Alice Cullen _does_ have a striking resemblance to this hyped-up thing. . .

"Alice?" I say, unsure of my assumption.

The pixie turns to face me, eyes wide and framed with long, delicate jet-black eyelashes. Then, it breaks into a smile. "Hi! Edward! Hi, hi, hi!"

Alright, so that is definitely Alice Cullen prancing around me.

"I knew you were here! Bella was telling me all about how she saved you in the hospital from your car wreck or something – why'd you crash into her again? – and that you are now a vampire like all the rest of us and yay! This is going to be so much fun! I get to buy you a whole new wardrobe!"

My ears are ringing with the overuse of her exclamation points. "Um, yeah. Sure, whatever," I say dazedly as I try to keep up with her motor-mouth. "What are you doing here, though?"

She laughs at my question. Her laugh is a more complex bell-like sound than the laugh I heard her emit when I was a human. "Oh, silly Edward. You aren't serious, are you?" she giggles.

"I don't think he's ever been more serious in his life," Bella remarks dryly from where she is standing behind me as she picks listlessly at her fingernails. "I think I accidentally sucked all the brain cells out of Edward when I changed him."

"Bee, be nice," Alice chastises her sister. Oh, right. Those two are sisters. So that's why the pixie is here. Didn't Bella say the building we are in right now is her house? Or her family's. Whatever. Same difference.

"'Nice' is not an attitude compatible with Bella's personality," I inform Alice in a self-assured manner.

Alice glares back at me. "Don't antagonise her," she grumbles. "How am I supposed to get ya'll to play nice with each other when you two refuse to cooperate?" She then mutters underneath her breath: "Wish Carlisle would've let me leave you two back in Texas!"

I pretend that I don't hear her. I look around the room we're in right now (sometime during this fabulous little get-together, Bella and I must've stopped walking down all those endless stairs) and am mildly impressed. Whoever decorated Bella's house must be some expensive well-known interior decorator. There are floor-to-ceiling glass walls and windows which adds to the weightless and Heaven-in-the-clouds vibe I've been feeling during the few hours of my stay that I have been here. It's not a home-y sort of place; instead, it's rather modern what with the black wrought iron detailing on the balcony and twining up the staircases and up and down all over the walls like some twisted snake or creeping vine. Bella is obviously a minimalist if the no-dust-no-clutter look of her home and this room says anything about her. Instead of vibrant punchy colours, the area is coloured in pastel hues that reflect a natural sort of glow echoing the clouds and Seattle sunshine that manages to peek through the overcast skies. It's all very Bella without it being Bella . . . if that makes any sort of sense.

In my attempt to ignore Alice, the only words playing on a constant loop through my head right now are the ones she grumbled underneath her breath about me and Bella. One word sticks out more than the rest.

"Carlisle, you said?" I ask, turning around from critiquing the room so I can start up another conversation with Alice.

She eyes me with bright eyes, jabs Bella in the side with an elbow, and whispers in hushed tones excitedly. She must have forgotten that I now possess vampire-hearing and can now discern what she is saying: "Omigosh, Bee!" she squeals into her sister's ear. "He is already talking like he's from regency England or something! Eee!"

What? No, I'm not. I'm just some punk-ass kid from Alaska who's a wanna-be rebel and has commitment issues because of a messed up family life. I can't possibly sound like some stiff upper-lipped British gentleman. That's just not me – not even in my vampire reincarnation self.

Bella, thankfully, has some sense left about her. "Oh, shut up, Alice. I never understood yours and Jazzy's fascination with the different eras in human history, but please, save those fantasies for the bedroom. And Edward does _not_ sound like a well-bred English gentleman. How absurd can you possibly get, Alice?"

Alice recoils back, obviously stung by Bella's harsh words. That is the beauty about Bella – she's so sharp and blunt with her opinions and doesn't give a fuck who she offends. However, Alice is used to Bella's aggressiveness and recovers quickly, slipping back into her damn chirpy bubbly self.

"Yeah, I mentioned Carlisle," Alice tells me, acting as if the little interlude and whisper-giggle-fast had not just happened. "What of it?"

I open my mouth to answer but someone else beats me to the punch.

"The poor boy is probably curious and confused," comments a familiar voice. I think I've heard it in a hospital.

A silky black leather chair slowly turns around and there in front of me is Dr Cullen. Right. He is Bella's father.

"Uh, hello, sir," I say cordially.

Carlisle Cullen dips his head in acknowledgment to me. "Nice to meet you, son. How do you feel?"

I furrow my eyebrows, wondering if this is a trick question or not. A peek into Dr Cullen's thoughts allows me to see that he is only being sincere. "I am a bit thirsty, if I do say so myself," I reply truthfully. The term of endearment he used on me does not go unnoticed by anyone in this room: Alice is smiling widely and Bella is furious as per usual.

"That's understandable," Dr Cullen nods his head. "While you are a newborn vampire, the thirst for blood will seem insatiable. If you train yourself to diet and wean yourself off of gorging yourself on blood, you'll find out that your craving will reduce immensely. It also helps if you transition into becoming a vegetarian and lay off human blood in favour of animal blood – preferably carnivorous as that holds much more nutritional benefits than the blood of an herbivore."

My brain immediately becomes squeamish at the thought of sucking out blood from an animal. I feel dirty, maybe even a little parasitic. Forget Dracula; I might as well start labelling myself as a leech.

"It's not that bad," booms a massive bear of a guy who enters the room. He laughs when he catches sight of my face. "Oh, Eddie, your eyes! Bro, didn't anyone tell you that Halloween is months away?"

"Very funny, Emmett!" I roll my eyes at the prankster. "It's too bad that you're stuck with your ugly face!" We then proceed to do that punch-hug-back-slap thing that guys do. Girls don't understand it as evident by the eye-rolling and the exasperated sighs coming from Alice and Bella.

"So . . . you seem to be adjusting well to being a vampire," Bella comments. "I'll let Dad go over the logistics and the rules and the shit that I don't have time to explain to you. I've got to meet up with Jane in a few minutes. Give a holler or something if you need someone to explain how to hunt or a tour of Seattle. Otherwise, I don't really want to be breathing the same air as you, Edward. S'later." And with that, she's gone down a few more flight of stairs that I surprisingly do not feel like echoing her footsteps.

Dr Cullen steeples his fingers and smiles at me apologetically. "If you could, please try not to let her get to you," he says. "She's got a temperament that knows no boundaries. And she's not trying to be awful – Bella is just painfully honest about everything she says. She can't lie, you know. Everything she tells you, she means."

"Great," I mutter, thinking back on all the insults she has hurled my way. She sure knows how to boost a guy's self-esteem.

"So you play piano?" Alice asks curiously from her new perch on the edge of the armrest of the buttery leather brown sofa in the middle of the room. She starts swinging her legs gently. "Do you only play classical?"

I shrug. "I play whatever, really. Music calms me. It is my everything."

"Interesting," Dr Cullen notes while Emmett yells out: "Boring!"

"Edward, if you don't mind me asking, how is that you are managing to control your thirst so far? Most newborns are raving mental for blood when they first awake – you, on the other hand, locked yourself away in a room for 81 hours and played piano the entire time," Dr Cullen says.

Before I answer him, I say: "What's up, Doc? You're not trying to create a super-enhanced race of vampires are you? Cos I won't help you with your research, if that is what you are trying to do."

Dr Cullen smiles sadly at me. "No, Edward. I only hope to ease the transition of those who are unfortunate to be afflicted with the transformation from a human into a vampire."

I don't fully trust him; I mean, he seems too perfect. Everyone has to have some sort of flaw, right? Dr Cullen has absolutely none. That raises my suspicions about his true identity or what his motives are. Nonetheless, I give him every single though, feeling, and emotion I felt under the sun when my body became acclimated to Bella's venom in my system and the vampire transformation I made. By the time I am finished, Emmett's snoring away, Alice is off to go shopping in downtown Seattle, Dr Cullen has retreated to his study, and Bella is ready to go hunting in the woods behind their house.

Bella, unsurprisingly, is a competitive little minx. However, she of all people should know better than to challenge a thirsty and strong newborn vampire. I raise my eyebrows at her as we prepare to go dashing through the woods in search of mountain lion. She arches her own back at me before zipping through the trees with only a slight rustle of glossy green leaves shaking in her wake.

Let the games begin.


	14. The End

**Author's Note for _Fallen Star_:**

**31 October 2013**

**Howdy, y'all. This note is going to be short, sweet, and disappointing. Thought I would give you a heads up.**

**I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth, I'm not dead (or a vampire), and I think y'all are darlings for sticking with me through my ups-and-downs for as long as you have. I know I am imperfect and inconsistent and thank you so so much for loving me anyway.**

_**Fallen Star**_**is going in to hibernation mode. I'm not deleting these previous chapters like I did with _Catching the Sun_; however, this is The End for this story. Seriously. My reasoning is different this time (reviews are lovely but please don't feel obligated. A bunch of you sweethearts have PM'd me about the beauty of writing for the love of writing and not for popularity) and if you want to know why the apocalypse is happening for the Fallen Star universe, please go read Chapter 2: The End of _Catching the Sun_. Everything will be explained - if not, you know where to find me.**

**You can hate me. You can throw mushrooms at me. You can call me names and leave me awful, heartbreaking messages; you can cry and beg and plead and shake me by my shoulders. But I am 99.9% sure that I am not changing my mind on saying goodbye from FS and CTS. If I do, it'll be because I am *completely* re-writing the story or I am updating it with a final chapter that gives a bit of closure - it's the least I can do for y'all.**

**I'm sorry. Really and truly.  
>This hurts so much to do, and my heart is filled with weary acceptance. CTS and FS were my very first stories on FF. They gave me tears and smiles and introduced me to all of y'all wonderful lovelies. But it's time to say goodbye to CTS and FS.<strong>

**~wouldtheywriteasongforyou  
>"You are the best thing that's ever been mine."<strong>


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